Veterans In Partnership (VISN 11)

Issue: A medication bottle for Veteran A was placed in the bag for Veteran B (who is an employee and Veteran). Veteran A questioned the missing medication. Veteran B returned the medication which belonged to Veteran A to the pharmacy the…

Outcome: Additional training and awareness given to employees. HIPAA Notification letter mailed to Veteran.…

Issue: A former VA Employee found documents when unpacking moving boxes. The documents found were described as "Master Record" pages. This is the second incident of found documents by the former employee. During the first incident the former employee indicated there…

Outcome: The Privacy Officer will be conducting in-services with the nursing staff in conjunction with the Chief Nurses and the Nurse Managers regarding privacy related issues.

Issue: Patient A received a copy of a consent form for Patient B. The consent form contained the full name, SSN, DOB and medications of Patient B. Update: 11/25/11:Patient B will receive a letter offering credit protection services.…

Outcome: Because PO or Supervisor of the department was unable to identify specifically who mis-mailed the document, the Supervisor has discussed the need to insure documents being mailed are going to the correct individual with all staff in the department.

Issue: A Primary Care Provider removed "recyclable" material for use in a printer/fax machine in their private practice clinic. An unknown amount of records/papers were removed for an unknown number of Veterans. An anonymous complainant has produced one document containing a…

Outcome: Primary Care Physician has resigned following the Professional Standards Board. Notification letters and Credit Monitoring Letters have been sent to the individuals confirmed to be affected by this breach. HHS/OCR complaint was filed regarding the Private Clinic's failure to properly…

Issue: A Fee Basis denial of claim letter for Veteran A was sent to Veteran B in error. The Fee Basis Clerk did not verify the Veteran associated with the claim correctly. The two Veterans both share the same last name…

Outcome: Employee and service personnel have been educated on the proper Veteran identity verification process. Notification letter has been sent to the impacted Veteran.…

Issue: A VA Social Worker's briefcase was stolen from a government vehicle. The Social Worker now believes it contained sensitive information (full name and full social security number) belonging to homeless Veterans. The number affected and names are being determined. Update:…

Outcome: Information has been turned over to HR for possible employee sanction.

Issue: A VA clerk at the Peoria Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) mailed Veteran As lab information to an attorney rather than tp the physician that it was intended for. It appears that the clerk chose the incorrect name in the…

Outcome: The employee will receive oral counseling along with some additional training. Credit monitoring letter sent to patient.…

Issue: An employee accessed the medical records of a Veteran whom he seems to know personally. The employee's supervisor could not verify any work-related reason for this employee to have accessed the record. Update: 11/02/11:The Veteran will be sent a letter…

Outcome: The employee has had no prior incident. They have recieved an oral counseling along with some additional training from HR.…

Issue: Thirty-one pages of billing information (for another VA Hospital) was released to the Office of the Attorney General in Indianapolis, Indiana. This consisted of information on two (2) people. One person had her full social security number, full birth date,…

Outcome: Education is on-going for the ROI clerk, disciplinary action has been taken and the employee has been placed on a PIP.

Issue: Veteran A received mis-mailed lab results of Veteran B. The lab results contained Veteran's B full name, full SSN, and lab test results. Update: 10/21/11:Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.…

Outcome: Since a specific individual was identified as having mis-mailed the documents, education was provided to all staff in department on the need to verify to whom this information is being mailed and they should not mail "work-copy" of these documents.