Tennessee Valley Healthcare System

Issue: On 04/14/15, a Contracted Physician at the Bowling Green CBOC, went to the waiting room and called out by name only for Veteran A, who had a scheduled appointment for medication management with this Physician. The Physician escorted the Veteran…

Outcome: 04/14/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran A will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Veteran As Power of Attorney (POA) notified the Privacy Officer (PO), Nashville Campus, of the following incident: On 04/09/15, the POA was cleaning out Veteran As duffle bag and found an appointment list belonging to Veteran B. The POA surmised…

Outcome: 04/10/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, a Veteran's fiance reported the following incident to the Chief, Dental Service: On 04/03/15, a Veteran was seen in the Dental Clinic, Nashville Campus. Later, the Veteran's fiance became upset when she found a text on the Veteran's cell…

Outcome: 04/13/15: PO interviewed the Dental Hygienist (DH) who stated the Veteran gave her his phone number. The DH stated the Veteran seemed discouraged so she sent him a picture of an inspirational poster via the text. The DH provided the…

Issue: On 03/31/15, Veteran A contacted the Outpatient Pharmacy, Nashville Campus, and reported he received narcotic medication, via United Parcel Service (UPS), belonging to Veteran B. Veteran B was contacted and confirmed he received narcotic medication belonging to Veteran A. The…

Outcome: 04/01/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran A and B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: On 03/25/15, an Environmental Management employee was working on a loading dock disposing of cardboard boxes when he came across three envelopes. Upon checking the envelopes, he found that two of them were empty and the third contained an Appointment…

Outcome: 3/30/15: PO update -- 3/30/ - PO called and spoke to the Veteran whose information was on the document found. He stated that he receives all of his care at the Nashville Campus and was not at the Murfreesboro Campus…

Issue: On 03/25/15, the Privacy Officer (PO) received a telephone call from a Veterans Service Officer (VSO) who reported an issue of Veteran A who received an appointment letter in the mail and within that same envelope was also an appointment…

Outcome: 03/30/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: On 03/24/15, Veteran A called and notified the Privacy Officer (PO) that when he received a Patient Notification Letter for Test Results for himself, in the envelope, was also a same type letter for Veteran B. The protected health information…

Outcome: 03/24/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: The Privacy Officer (PO) was made aware of this incident on 03/24/15: On 03/09/15, Veteran A was at the VA Chattanooga Outpatient Clinic for a scheduled appointment. Upon being released by Staff, he was provided various documents from the Nurse.…

Outcome: 03/24/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services due to full SSN being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, the following incident was reported to the Privacy Officer (PO), Nashville Campus: On 03/17/15, at 4:15 PM, the Chief, Health Information Management Service (HIMS), Louisville VAMC (who was at TVHS for training) noticed the travel box located in the…

Outcome: 03/20/15: PO update -- The police were unable to see the incident on film. I have no way of knowing how the documents became scattered on the ground. The latch was broken on the box and worked intermently so the…

Issue: Veteran A contacted the Privacy Officer(PO), Nashville Campus, regarding the following concern: On 03/12/15, while having an ultrasound done at the Nashville Campus, Veteran A was left alone in the room while the technician left the area. Veteran A glanced…

Outcome: 03/13/15: The Incident Resolution Service Team has determined that there was a policy violation. While there was an unauthorized access/disclosure of data, it has been determined that the incident has a low probability of a risk of compromise.…