VA Sunshine Healthcare Network (VISN 8)

Issue: Veteran A called to report that through the Release of Information Unit, they received medical information that pertained to Veteran B. The information was scanned into the wrong medical record. Update: 01/31/13:Veteran B will be offered credit protection services.…

Outcome: The information was deleted from the medical record by the PO and scanned into the correct medical record through VISTA Imaging. Process review and education provided to both the Fee Basis staff and Scanning staff by the Medical Administration Service…

Issue: A Veteran called the Privacy Officer to report that he received a box that contained medical equipment (CPAP) from the Miami VA that he did not request. He explained that his full social security number and date of birth were…

Outcome: Medication box was retrieved and credit monitoring was provided to Veteran.

Issue: The appointment letter for Patient B was in control of Patient A for an undetermined about of time. Patient A did return the appointment letter to the Patient Advocate Office on 01/25/13 at 4:00 PM. The letter contained Patient B's…

Outcome: The information was retrieved. Employees responsible for mailing out appointment follow -up letters have been provided additional education by the Privacy Officer and asked to apply additional safeguards when handling individually identifiable information.…

Issue: A VA employee in Social Work Service has been emailing Veteran information from his personal email address to a Public Housing Authority to include Veterans first and last name and other personal and/or health related information. According the Public Housing…

Outcome: The service chief has been brought to the attention of the situation. The Privacy Office will be providing education to the service with corresponding with emails and other correspondences. Education and training will be provided by the Privacy Office.…

Issue: Veteran A reported that he received a mailing intended for Veteran B. Update: 01/25/13:Due to full SSN and medical information being disclosed, Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Outcome: The PO has contacted the Supervisor of the Section. Education will be provided to the appropriate staff by Medical Administration Service regarding the safeguards of mailing veteran information to prevent reoccurrence. A copy of the information has been mailed to…

Issue: Veteran A received an appointment list and went to discuss another issue with Patient Advocate. Veteran A opened his appointment list and discovered it belonged to Veteran B. Appointment list given to Patient Advocate. Update: 01/22/13:Veteran B will be sent…

Outcome: HAS supervisor has provided Investigation, Remediation, and Sanctions. Training Cert received.

Issue: Employee/Veteran reported suspicion to the Privacy Officer that another VA Employee accessed their medical record. An audit log was run and confirmed that the VA Employee did access the Employee/Veteran's medical record. The VA Employee was not a part of…

Outcome: One employee was identified to have accessed this Veteran/Employee's medical record outside the scope of their duties. The employee's supervisor has been informed and we have reiterated to staff that access to records is strictly on a need to know…

Issue: Veteran A reported to the Lee County VA Center's Release of Information (ROI) unit to address why recently requested records had not yet been received. Upon review of the information processed by ROI, it was determined that the information was…

Outcome: Additional safeguards have been implemented to protect sensitive personal information and staff are to apply these safeguards when processing requests and handling individually identifiable information. In addition, our system has been updated to reflect the Veteran's correct address.

Issue: A Logistics supervisor reported that an unlocked filing cabinet was brought to the loading dock and was left unsecured for two days. The supervisor indicated that the filing cabinet contained patient information. The Privacy Officer (PO) accompanied the supervisor to…

Outcome: The filing cabinet was retrieved. Next of kin notification letters were sent to 49 deceased next of kin. Credit protection notifications were sent to 26 patients. Records manager will work with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) liaison to properly archive…

Issue: A Primary Care Nurse put a podiatry appointment list containing 22 Veteran full SSN, full name, telephone, email, and Means Tests dates between two calendars and a Veteran took them home. Update: 01/10/13:Letters offering credit protection services will be offored…

Outcome: Appropriate corrective actions should be given to nurse for violations of Privacy Policy CM No. 00-12-15 according to the Sanctions Clause V.A.5