VA Mid South Healthcare Network (VISN 9)

Issue: Patient A received Patient B's medication listing which included his full SSN. Both patients had been seen in the same clinic at the same time on 03/09/12. Both Patients had the same last name. Patient A shredded the list before…

Outcome: Employees reminded of the need for caution when handling documents with PII.

Issue: Human Resources had sent retirement information to Defense Finance and Accounting Services for processing. Someone neglected to place the proper UPS label on the packaging and a UPS employee had to open the packet to find out who to notify…

Outcome: Unable to identify exact employee responsible. All in the responsible area reminded of the need for caution when preparing documents for shipping.…

Issue: A VA clerk made a Mental Health appointment for Patient A under Patient B's profile and gave him a copy of the letter. Patient A called back to say that he had Patient B's letter and that he had destroyed…

Outcome: Reminded clerk of the importance of caution when handling documents with PII/PHI.

Issue: Veteran A received Veteran B's lab results letter. It was a double stuffing of the envelope. The protected health information (PHI) involved included Veteran B's full name, address and lab information. It was outside of VA control for more than…

Outcome: Reeducated staff the importance of safeguarding PHI.

Issue: A VA FEE Basis clerk received a call that a Veteran's widow had received two letters containing information on a total of three patients. The letters contained the patients' names and partial SSN and protected health information. Update: 03/05/12:The three…

Outcome: Employees in the responsible area reminded to use caution when preparing documents for mailing.

Issue: A Billing Statement went to a member of the general public. The address that is listed on the billing statement is the same that on file for the intended Veteran. The person who received the billing statement returned it to…

Outcome: System had wrong address.

Issue: An employee found his pay stub opened at work. His pay stub contained his full name, home address, full SSN and other financial information (i.e. salary). The pay stub was within the confines of VA grounds. Update: 03/05/12:The employee will…

Outcome: Reminded staff to protect patient information.

Issue: A Veteran's wife complained that she received medical records mailed to her husband a few days ago from the Release of Information Office (ROI). When she opened the package, she found another Veterans medical records which contain personal identifiable information…

Outcome: The incident has been investigated with the ROI staff. However they ROI Clerk who processed the request could not identify the recipient of the missing. To ensure that this incident does not happen again in the future, the Supervisor of…

Issue: Patient A received Patient B's appointment letter. The information contained full name, DOB, and home address. It was not recovered and was out of VA control for greater than seventy-two hours. It involved one (1) patient. Update: 03/01/12:One Veteran will…

Outcome: Reeducated employees on importance of safeguarding PHI.

Issue: Patient A was given Patient B's progress note upon leaving clinic. PHI included full SSN, full name, DOB. One patient was involved and it was outside VA control for greater than 72 hours. Update: 02/24/12:Veteran B will be sent a…

Outcome: Reminded employees that we need to safeguard PHI.