Sierra Pacific Network (VISN 21)

Issue: A VBA Employee (an Information Security Officer [ISO]) found doctors orders outside of the nursing home. The document was turned in to the VHA facility ISO. Update: 06/04/13:This was misplaced by a VA employee. It was printed at 8:30, and…

Outcome: NA

Issue: A VA employee had an impermissible access to a Veterans electronic medical records. Update: 05/21/13:An employee accessed the records of a Veteran and spouse who are both deceased. A notification letter will be sent to the Next of Kin.…

Outcome: NA

Issue: VA employee viewed a Veterans record without need to know. Update: 05/17/13:The Veteran's next-of-kin will be sent a notification letter.…

Outcome: PO completed fact finding, employee did not have a need to know, the employee Impermissibly accessed the veterans records. finding have been forwarded to HR for action.

Issue: On 04/18/13 at approximately 7:22 PM, VA Police Officer 1 responded to assist VA Polices Officer 2 to investigate and look for two unidentified suspects reportedly looking in trash containers that are located near building #14. Suspect stated that they…

Outcome: Service area affected was notified, and credit monitoring letters were sent to members identify in the incident.

Issue: An employee requested a copy of his Sensitive Access Report and identified an individual had accessed his record. The PO has thoroughly investigated the incident and have determined the extent of the incident and concluded there was a privacy breach.…

Outcome: Notification letter was sent out. The person who accessed his record was notified and appropriate disciplinary action is being coordinated by the service chief and Human Resources Management Service…

Issue: Lab tests and upcoming appointments were mis-mailed to another Veteran by mistake. We have not confirmed this or whether the mail was delivered to the wrong address. All indications at this point appear to be a mis-mailing. Update: 04/19/2013:The Veteran…

Outcome: Information was retrieved and secured. Staff will be briefed on attention to detail when mailing documents.…

Issue: Pharmacy technician miss-mailed prescription and instructions to the wrong address/Veteran. The Veteran called the Pharmacy when he noticed it wasn't his prescription. Update: 04/15/13:Veteran B will be sent a notification letter.…

Outcome: The pharmacy staff have been reminded about attention to detail and have modified procedures to reduce interruptions for those doing the mail outs of prescriptions to Veterans. Information and prescription have been retrieved and secured. Request closure of this ticket.…

Issue: A Veteran received nutrition handouts along with the notes of another patient. The notes included the patient's full name, full SSN, and date of birth. The recipient returned the notes to the clinic clerks. The clerk placed the notes into…

Outcome: A notification letter with credit monitoring was sent out to the Veteran. The employees were retrained on how to verify the contents of the handouts before they are released the Veterans.

Issue: Patient went to get his VIC card, and clerk updated his address information. The patient then received his VIC card and another Veterans information for appointments and bottles of medication. The appointment letter contained the other vets information other than…

Outcome: NA

Issue: Urinary drainage bags for Veteran A were mailed in error to Veteran B and Veteran B Diet feeding bags were mailed to Veteran A. The bags for the orders in above were correctly addressed by the pharmacy but the mail…

Outcome: Service area affected was notified, and credit monitoring letters were sent to members identify in the incident.