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 Mid South Healthcare Network (VISN 9)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 24, 2013. Also cited in 328 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000088473, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 09 Huntington, WV
Issue:
A clerk faxed a report to a physicians office on 03/13/13. Today, a call was received from an insurance agency, stating that they had received records from this facility and did not know what claim they were for. It was confirmed that they received the 03/13/13 fax intended for the physicians office. The odd thing about this is, both the physicians office and the insurance company claim that the fax number these records were sent to belongs to them. The facility received the request from the physicians office from this fax. The facility is following up to try to discover how this happened but, at this point, it does not appear to be the facilitys error. Update: 04/26/13:The Privacy Officer (PO) was finally able to confirm today that the clerk misdialed the fax and it is the facility's error. The form included the patient's name, address, date of birth, full SSN and protected health information (PHI). The patient will receive a letter offering credit protection services.05/22/13:This was determined to be HITECH reportable by VHA Privacy Office.
Outcome:
Staff reminded to verify Fax numbers; however, it appears that the physician's office was at least partially responsible for this one.