VA Southeast Network (VISN 7)

Issue: A VA employee found four (4) pages of a Veteran's consult for Social Work service on the condiments counter at the VA in house Starbucks. Starbucks opens at 7:00 a.m. and the documents were found at 9:00 a.m. It is…

Outcome: Privacy Officer could not determine who made the violation. Veteran is an inpatient and anyone associated with his care and/or who had access to print PHI documents could have left paperwork in Starbucks. PO personally hand delivered letter with credit…

Issue: On 3/1/2011, Veteran A received an appointment reminder by mail. Included in the envelope were appointment reminders for four other Veterans. On the morning of 3/1/2011, Veteran A contacted the Privacy Officer by phone to report the incident. The clinic…

Outcome: Corrective Action Plan: The number of letters from NEURO EMG is small enough for this to be done manually without use of the folding/envelope machine. this has already been instructed. Employee has be educated on the need to safeguard patient…

Issue: On 2/26/2011, Veteran (employee) #1 received a reminder by mail of an upcoming NEURO EMG appointment. The Veteran (employee) was surprised to see that a second NEURO EMG appointment letter which was intended for another Veteran was included in the…

Outcome: Staff is being re-educated on the need to safeguard patient information.

Issue: Desk being sent to warehouse sat on back dock for approximately two weeks. Today, VA employee transferring desk from back dock to warehouse found two (2) patient medical charts and fifteen labels with full names, SSN, and DOB in one…

Outcome: Letter sent to Chief of Service and cc: Chief of Staff describing violation and recommending discussion at Staff Meetings. Chief of Staff requested PO talk to all the Services regarding this matter and how easily it could have been prevented…

Issue: A clerk at the Aiken Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) disposed of sensitive information in the regular trash. The trash was emptied into the dumpster. The dumpster company picked up trash. Update: 02/18/11: A Business Manager at the Aiken CBOC…

Outcome: Employee removed from assigned duty and case referred to HR for disciplinary action. Clinic staff, employees, and volunteers required to complete Privacy Training. Measures taken to reduce the use of printed documents with PHI/PII in the clinic. Information Bulletin on…

Issue: Today, 2/14/2011, a Birmingham VAMC Social Worker was working on transferring a patient to a nursing home. The social worker incorrectly faxed the patient's information to the wrong nursing home. The social worker immediately contacted the nursing home and identified…

Outcome: Employee has re-taken Privacy and Information Security training. Employee has also been given instructions to ensure the proper fax number prior to faxing by supervisor.Credit monitoring letter has been mailed and a redacted copy is attached.

Issue: Veteran A called the Dorn VA medical Center Pharmacy to inform them that she received a package addressed to her from the Dorn VA. Upon opening the package, she realized the package contained medication intended for another Veteran B. Veteran…

Outcome: Corrective Action: Employees have been educated on the need to safeguard patient information.…

Issue: Employee A filed complaint that Employee B (non-manager) opened her W2. Update: 02/09/11:The PO received a Report of Contact (ROC) from the Employee B who opened Employee B's W2. The ROC states she opened the W2 by accident and did…

Outcome: Redacted credit monitoring letter attached. Process has been changed whereas the Nurse Manager will personally hand out W2 forms to employees.

Issue: Veteran A faxed the medical record medication list and discharge instructions of veteran B he received while on appt from his Primary care provider to the VISN office. PHI disclosed: Full name, full ssn, birth date, home address, home phone…

Outcome: Staff was provided education by Service and understands importance of correct patient identification. The letter went out in mail this morning. Please close ticket, thanks.…

Issue: There has been a loss of a patients medication in the United Parcel System (UPS). The medication was filled normally and sent out on 1/13/2011. The veteran contacted the pharmacy and verified that he had not received the medication as…

Outcome: The DOB is no longer on either the batch label or the RX label as a Date of Birth. It is now "masked" as 679-month-day. It would show up 6790102. This will be on BOTH the RX label and removed…