Search Privacy Violations, Breaches and Complaints
This database was last updated in December 2015 ago and should only be used as a historical snapshot. More recent data on breaches affecting 500 or more people is available at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Breach Portal.
VA Health Care Upstate New York (VISN 2)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 11, 2013. Also cited in 132 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000087811, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY
Issue:
The Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor reported that there was a delivery error of a patient's prescription. Patient A's prescription was mailed to Patient B. The prescription was returned by the Patient B when it was discovered. This resulted in Patient A's full name, address, and medication information being inappropriately disclosed to Patient B. The error occurred when the pharmacy technician attempted to print a mailing label in ScriptPro. The correct label was scanned but the label printed was incorrect. It was identified as a software error so a Tech for ScriptPro was contacted and made changes in the system to correct the problem. The Outpatient Pharmacy Department was told of the issue, to watch for future errors and confirm patient identifiers on the mailing label and prescription to avoid future errors. Update: 04/11/13:Patient A will be sent a HIPAA notification letter.05/22/13:This was determined to be non-HITECH reportable by VHA Privacy Office.
Outcome:
Pharmacy resent the medications to Patient B and had the software technician make system changes to correct the error occurring with the printing the labels to avoid future occurrences.