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 Southwest Health Care Network (VISN 18)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on February 8, 2013. Also cited in 228 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000085615, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 18 Phoenix, AZ
Issue:
An Administrative Assistant notified the Privacy Officer that a Chief contacted him of 2 mis-directed Veteran letters. Veteran A notified the Chief that she received a letter intended regarding Veteran B for a senator's office. Upon notification to the Administrative Assistant, he contacted the senator's office, had had received Veteran A's letter instead of Veteran B's letter. Both Veteran and congressman's office will be sending the letters back. The correct letters were resent today to both Veteran A and Veteran B. Root cause: Labeling envelopes incorrectly. Corrective actions: Additional reviews of all letters prior to mailing. Elimination of batch processing. Consideration of other mailing methodologies. Further notification and recovery in progress. Update: 02/11/13:Veteran A and B will be sent a notification letter.
Outcome:
Determined that the usual mailing label quality check was not performed. Busy environment and multi-tasking contributed to 2 envelope labeling mis-application. This has been remedied by changing the time of mailing label application, and review of mail contents prior to mailing.