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 Heart of Texas Health Care Network (VISN 17)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on December 19, 2012. Also cited in 122 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000083886, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 17 Harlingen, TX
Issue:
A VA Pharmacist was preparing two different bags of prescriptions when he put a bottle of Veteran A's prescription into the bag for Veteran B. Veteran Bs wife left the facility with the bag without noticing. The VA Pharmacist noticed the error when Veteran A picked up his medication and noticed that he was missing a prescription bottle. The VA Pharmacist contacted Veteran Bs wife about 10 minutes later requesting her to return to the Pharmacy. Once she returned, the prescription in question was retrieved unopened and re-issued to Veteran A. The only information that was on the bottle was Veteran As full name and medication name, along with provider name and prescription number. Update: 12/19/12:Veteran A will be sent a notification letter.NOTE: There were a total of 85 Mis-Handling incidents this reporting period. Because of repetition, the other 84 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:
On 12/20/12, additional training/counseling took place. Step by step procedures were discussed to be used to prevent misplacing of finished medication when filled and bagged prescriptions must be worked on.