VA Health Care Upstate New York (VISN 2)

Report ID: SPE000000078961, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY

Issue:

The Social Work Executive notified the Privacy Officer that a Nurse Practitioner at the Binghamton Outpatient Clinic in an attempt to contact the appropriate community agency (child protective services), ended up contacting the incorrect department (adult protective services). Both of these departments fall under the same agency. The local adult protective services department accepted the referral information and was going to forward it to the child protective services department. The NP did not know the local facility policy of having the referral go through the social work executive to ensure only the minimal amount of protected health information is released. The Social Worker clarified the appropriate reporting process with the Nurse Practitioner and with the clinic's Nurse Manager. The Privacy Officer has contacted the Nurse Manager to determine what specific patient information was disclosed to Adult Protective by the Nurse Practitioner. Update: 08/24/12:On further review, there was a medical disclosure that was inappropriate. The Veteran will be sent a HIPAA notification letter.

Outcome:

Nurse Practitioner, social worker, and all other clinic staff educated at the last clinic staff meeting regarding the policy for proper reporting to Adult and Child Protective Services.

Related Reports:

1 other violation reported on the same date. Note that other citations may be about the same event: SPE000000078956