Veterans In Partnership (VISN 11)

Issue: Veteran A was given a routing slip at a clinic at VA Illiana Health Care system to take with him to the Imaging department. Patient gave the routing slip to the imaging employee. The imaging employee recognized that the information…

Outcome: Service Chief will provide counseling to provider who gave the patient the wrong information. The process in the clinic of how routing slips are handled will be reviewed.…

Issue: A fee basis technician inadvertently mailed a one page document containing ortho payments to another Veteran in error. Veteran A recieved Veteran B's payment records for the month of August along with his own payment records. Veteran A is also…

Outcome: Employees have been educated on ensuring multiple letters are not mailed in error.

Issue: Fee Basis MRI (X-ray) results for Veteran B were improperly placed in Veteran A's Record. Veteran A was given a paper copy of the document to take to his orthopedic appointment where the error was discovered. The document contained Veteran…

Outcome: Employee has been educated on how to properly screen documents prior to scanning. Notification letter sent to Veteran.…

Issue: Veteran A received a copy of lab results for Veteran B in the mail. Veteran A contacted the Administrative Officer of the Day (AOD) to inform VA this document was received in error. Veteran A informed the alternate PO that…

Outcome: Supervisor discussed with employee need to insure accuracy when mailing documents to Veterans.

Issue: Veteran A's hemoccult cards were mailed to Veteran B. The Privacy Officer (PO) has no further information at this time. Update: 08/29/11:Veteran A will receive a letter of notification. 10/03/11:The card contained Veteran A's name, full SSN and date of…

Outcome: There is no way for the PO to determine who sent the FOBT cards out. The PO will work with the Nurse Managers and the MAS supervisors to inform their staff to be more careful with mailings to Veterans.

Issue: The Privacy Officer received a message to call a Veteran. Upon contact, Veteran A explained that he requested a copy of the medical record on a CD. Veteran A received the CD of Veteran B which contained medical documents, including…

Outcome: Supervisor is conducting additional training for employee who mis-mailed the documents. Additionally, employee is going to receive written counseling due to this breach. Redacted credit monitoring letter attached.…

Issue: The Release of Information (ROI) clerk enclosed records for Patient A in the envelope that was sent to Patient B. Patient B returned the documents but is concerned that he may have other requests go to someone else instead, due…

Outcome: Supervisor is conducting additional training for employee who mis-mailed the documents. Additionally, employee is going to receive written counseling due to this breach. Veteran returned documents intact and the concern from patient A was relieved as those records were never…

Issue: A release of information clerk sent copies of the wrong Veteran's medical records to an insurance company. At this time some of the information is unable to be determined. Update: 08/03/11:The Veteran will be sent a letter offering credit protection…

Outcome: The employee will retake the Privacy Policy Web training. The supervisor is reviewing the release of information competencies with the employee and will provide additional training and monitor his work. The employee received disciplinary action.…

Issue: Complaint was recieved by VA employee claiming inappropriate access to the Veteran Medical Record. Complaint also cites an incomplete and not properly explained release of information authorization (10-5345). Update: 09/22/12:An Employee Health Physician (EHP) has been counseled by his supervisor…

Outcome: Inappropriate access to Veteran Treatment records by Employee Physician along with poor Privacy Policies and ineffective communication were significant factors leading up to the complaint. Employee Physician has been counseled on the proper procedures on accessing Veteran treatment records and…

Issue: A Social Work Service employee at VA Illiana Health Care System released protected 7332 information of a Veteran to the Veteran's attorney without proper authorization. Update: 07/26/11:The Veteran will be sent a notification letter.…

Outcome: Employee (who is new and still in probationary period) will be given significant training by his Supervisor.