Tennessee Valley Healthcare System

Issue: An RN, Charlotte Ave Women's Clinic, reported the following incident: Patient A received a test notification letter in the mail which also contained a test notification letter belonging to Patient B. Patient B's identifiable information includes: full name, address and…

Outcome: 01/22/14: Patient B will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…

Issue: Veteran A called and reported that when she was provided a copy of documents upon being released from her outpatient appointment, she also received a document belonging to Veteran B. The document belonging to Veteran B including the full name,…

Outcome: 01/17/14: Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: The Privacy Officer was notified of the following incident by the Acting Administrative Officer (AO), Chattanooga Outpatient Clinic (COPC): Today, while at the COPC, Veteran A reported he recently received medical records in the mail from the Release of Information…

Outcome: 12/17/13: Veteran A will be sent a letter offering credit protection services due to full name and full SSN being disclosed.…

Issue: Today, 12/13/13, Patient A and Patient B were being discharged from 7B (Murfreesboro Campus). During the process, discharge medications for both Patient A and Patient B were given to Patient A who was being transported to his home in Memphis,…

Outcome: 12/16/13: Patient B will be sent a HIPAA notification letter due to Protected Health Information (PHI) being disclosed.…

Issue: The Research Compliance Officer notified the Privacy Officer, Nashville Campus, of the following incident: During a review of informed consent documents and HIPAA authorizations for a research protocol, it was noted the boxes authorizing the use of three categories of…

Outcome: 12/13/13: Notification letters will be sent to 21 participants.…

Issue: Veteran A had a procedure performed on 11/25/13 and upon completion of the procedure, was provided a copy of Veteran B's discharge instruction orders. Veteran A was not aware he was provided the information of Veteran B until he arrived…

Outcome: 12/04/13: Veteran B will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: The Release of Information (ROI) supervisor was contacted by an employee, Social Security Advocates, LLC, who stated she received records on Veteran A (which had been requested) but also received documents belonging to Veteran B. The ROI supervisor made arrangements…

Outcome: 11/14/13: Veteran B will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Issue: Veteran A called and reported to the Privacy Officer (PO) that he received an envelope from this facility addressed to him. Within the envelope were his laboratory results; however, also in the envelope were the results of Veteran B. The…

Outcome: 11/06/13: Veteran B will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.…

Issue: On October 21, 2013, an Employee/Veteran from the VA Chattanooga CBOC requested and received a Sensitive Patient Access Report (SPAR) to be able to view who had accessed his CPRS/VISTA record. This Employee/Veteran, upon receiving and reviewing the SPAR, notified…

Outcome: 10/28/13: PO is still investigating accesses; awaiting statements. 10/30/13: PO received statement from employee (Nurse) where access could not be justified. The PO reviewed this Veterans/Employee's CPRS record thoroughly to try to determine why this Nurse may have accessed on…

Issue: Today, a Veteran/Employee (Medical Support Assistant, Business Office, Nashville Campus) obtained a copy of a Sensitive Patient Access Report (SPAR) for the period of March 1, 2013 through October 17, 2013. Veteran/Employee found that his co-worker, a Medical Support Assistant,…

Outcome: 10/17/13: The employee will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…