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 Heartland Network (VISN 15)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on December 5, 2012. Also cited in 149 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000083274, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 15 Topeka, KS
Issue:
Veteran alleges a HIPAA violation since the specific topic is not something he would normally talk about with a friend of his or anyone with the exception of his wife. Veteran states he has been increasingly more pprehensive; hesitant in making follow-up appointments due to having the possibility of to running into the individual staff member whom he alleges is making the HIPAA breach. The Veteran stated he wanted to provide a history in regard to this individual being unprofessional and unprofessional comments made to him in order to show a pattern, so-to-speak of how the individual staffer behaves towards Veteran. The privacy allegation was made to a friend of this Veteran. This Veteran provided the friend\xe2\x80\x99s name and explained what was stated to him from his friend during an office visit. This is a difficult situation in that it's hearsay and involves a third party of whom is not present. Therefore, it is explained that if the third party would like to come forward with information -this will be taken into consideration, but from a privacy perspective and from what has been explained from the Veteran there has been no actual disclosure according the the HIPAA Privacy Rule -at this point that can be substantiated. Update: 04/16/13: This case was re-opened and changed to an incident when VHA Privacy Office received an OCR notification letter. It was discovered that an employee did inappropriately access the complainant's health record and received disciplinary action. Please review this case for the proper notification letter. The Veteran will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.
Outcome:
From the result of the AIB, the alleged individual's conduct was at issue and substantiated as inappropriate; however, as stated under the activity tab: a privacy breach could not be confirmed. A suspension as well as a reassignment of duties was handed down by HR & SL Manager. The alleged individual was up-to-date on security and privacy training. Notification Letter sent to Veteran. Redacted letter attached