Phoenix VA Health Care System

Issue: Today, 05/15/14, VA Police contacted the Privacy Officer(PO) after a search of employees office revealed possession of unsecured personnel records from another VA medical center. The personnel records contained full employee names, SSNs, and other personal data fields. Additional agency…

Outcome: 05/27/14: The employee did have a business need to have the documents when they were employed at the other VA medical center. They should not have held on to them once they left. The police did not disclose why they…

Issue: The ISO was informed that a Veteran received a phone call at their residence on 05/02/14, from a VA Staff person who asked for the Veteran by name. The Veterans wife answered the call and stated that the Veteran was…

Outcome: 05/05/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran A will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, 4/24/2014, Clerk reports a privacy incident that a Veteran provided to her for this purpose. Veteran A requested his medical records from the Release of Information window on-campus. He went to his outpatient appointment. While there, he realized that…

Outcome: 04/24/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, 04/22/14, Pharmacy supervisor reports privacy incident. On 04/07/14, the Pharmacy had mailed two (2) GI medications to a Veteran. Pharmacy recovered the medications and Veteran educational materials on 04/18/14 after the current owner of the property and medication mail…

Outcome: 05/05/14: The Incident Resolution Team has determined that the Veteran's Next of Kin will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: On 04/02/14 the Privacy Officer (PO) received a report from Pharmacy Supervisor that medications for two Veterans were provided to one Veteran on 04/01/14 upon discharge. Veteran A received Veteran B's medication. The Pharmacist realized this later, calling the Veteran…

Outcome: 04/03/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that Veteran B will receive a HIPAA letter of notification, since his name and medication information was compromised.…

Issue: Veteran A received medication meant for Veteran B. The address listed in the computer for Veteran B was actually Veteran A's address. Veteran B's name and medication information was disclosed.…

Outcome: 03/26/14: The Incident Resolution Team determined that Veteran B will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…

Issue: On 02/26/14, an Administrative Officer from a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) reported that Veteran Bs wife brought in documents belonging to 2 other Veterans. She reported that the documents were provided when he picked up medications at the CBOC…

Outcome: 02/27/14: The Incident Resolution Team (IRT) determined that the 2 Veterans will receive HIPAA letters of notification.…

Issue: Today, 02/04/14, the Associate Director reported to the Privacy Officer (PO) that a Sensitive Patient Access Report (SPAR) shows questionable chart access of an ex-VA-employee's record. There are three (3) staff members whose access does not correlate with treatment or…

Outcome: 02/04/14: News stories on internet reported the ex-employee's husband's name. His chart was checked and a sensitive chart flag is in place. The PO will recommend another SPAR be run for him also. 02/07/14: A SPAR was provided by the…

Issue: On February 3, 2014 the Pharmacy Supervisor reports to the Privacy Officer that a controlled medication was given to Veteran B instead of Veteran A in the Emergency Department on 2/2/2014. Both patients have a similar sounding last name. Veteran…

Outcome: 02/03/14: Veteran A will be sent a notification letter.…

Issue: On 1/27/2014, a Physician reports that during a Veteran/Patient encounter earlier today, labs for a different Veteran were provided. Veteran said they were provided by another physician. The reporting physician gave them back to the first physician prior to this…

Outcome: 02/03/14: The Veteran will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…