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.
South Central VA Health Care Network (VISN 16)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 5, 2011. Also cited in 317 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000060439, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 16 Muskogee, OK
Issue:
A copy of a morning report was found by an employee in the Medical Center's Canteen Cafeteria. A nurse left the report in the Canteen. It was there less than 30 minutes. The list contained the full name, SSN, diagnosis, sex, and age of thirty-one (31) inpatient Veterans. Update: 04/05/11:Thirty-one (31) Veterans will be sent letters offering credit protection services.NOTE: There were a total of 95 Mis-Handling incidents this reporting period. Because of repetition, the other 94 are not included in this report, but are included in the "Mis-Handling Incidents" count at the end of this report. In all incidents, Veterans will receive a notification letter and/or credit monitoring will be offered if appropriate.
Outcome:
The nurse was counseled to be more careful with printed documents. The Privacy Officer (PO) and Information Security Officer (ISO) will remind all staff to print documents only when necessary and to shred documents containing personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI).