VA Mid South Healthcare Network (VISN 9)

Issue: Family friend of Veteran stopped by to discuss her "grandfather's" condition as she was informed that his condition was failing. She inquired about the medication that was being given. RN pulled up the Veteran's medication list and discussed meds and…

Outcome: Supervisor's report of contact attached. Employee received written counseling. to be maintained for a minimum of 6 months. It should be noted that the Veteran expired the day following the meeting with the family. Notification letter sent to next of…

Issue: The Patient Advocate noticed a piece of paper lying on the VA grounds. When he picked up the document, he noticed it contained personally identifiable information (PII) and provided the document to the Privacy Officer (PO). The document contained 9…

Outcome: HIPAA Notification letters for all 9 Veterans to be mailed on 8/6/12. PO met with the employee involved and provided one on one education concerning this issue.…

Issue: Patient A called to say that he received Patient B's medication along with his own. The label had Patient B's name and medication information. There was no other personally identifiable information (PII). Patient A will return the medication on 08/03/12.…

Outcome: Employees reminded to be more cautious when handling documents with PII

Issue: The Privacy Officer (PO) received an email from a VA staff member from the from Purchase Care Department stating that she spoke with a Veteran regarding a denied claim. She stated during their conversation, the Veteran's wife hinted that in…

Outcome: PO conducted a fact-finding and met with one of the VA employees believed to be responsible for this incident. This VA employee is deaf and requested for an interpreter. Meeting started at 3:00 pm. Employee admitted that she is responsible…

Issue: Veteran A was being seen at the VA Chattanooga Outpatient Clinic and was given the Appointment Listing belonging to Veteran B. When Veteran A eventually realized he received the wrong appointment listing, he reported this and turned in the incorrect…

Outcome: The Veteran was unable to identify the employee involved. The incident was referred to the Business Office for appropriate action and education, if they can determine who the employee was that was involved. General education will be provided to all…

Issue: Patients A and B have the same last name. Patient A received the last two pages of prescription information intended for Patient B. Update: 06/29/12:Patient B will be sent a letter of notification.…

Outcome: Employees reminded to use caution when handling documents with PII.

Issue: Quality Management was notified by Regional Counsel that they had received medical records on one of our Veterans. The documents were forwarded to Quality Management. The Privacy Officer was given a copy of a letter written by one of our…

Outcome: Re-education was provided on the need to protect PHI and PII.

Issue: Patient A was given a copy of a multi-page document that had been scanned into VistA. Upon examination, he found that the last page belonged Patient B. This document contains the Patient B's full name, full SSN and age as…

Outcome: Employees reminded to be more cautious when handling/scanning documents with PII.

Issue: Veteran A requested copies of his Compensation and Pension (C&P) exam and was provided a copy by the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) staff at the point of contact. When the Veteran inspected the documents he realized that it had…

Outcome: Provider corrected the copy of the C&P report and corrected copy was put in the mail to the patient on June 21st. The notification letter to the Veteran's whose information was in the original C&P was mailed on June 28,…

Issue: Patient A was given medication belonging to Patient B. This happened in March and Patient A is just now returning the medication. Both patients were on the same medication, same dosage, and had the same last name; Patient A thought…

Outcome: Employees reminded to be more cautious when handling documents with PII.