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 Sunshine Healthcare Network (VISN 8)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 3, 2013. Also cited in 369 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000087507, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 08 Miami, FL
Issue:
A Veteran discovered a SICU Census report on the street outside of the hospital building. The report contained the name and partial SSNs for 8 patients. There was also an ECG that contained the full SSN of one patient and two more detailed reports with lab values and medications for two of the patients. There was a total of nine (9) patients affected. The discovering Veteran brought the papers (four pages total) to an employee of the facility and that was brought to the Privacy Officer (PO). The VA employee was unable to indicate if the papers were discovered on or off the VA facility campus. Update: 04/03/13:The one patient will receive a letter offering credit protection services and the other 8 patients will receive HIPAA letters of notification.05/16/13:This was determined to be HITECH reportable by VHA Privacy Office.
Outcome:
Service suspected one of the residents, but could not confirm responsible person. Service counseled all residents on the need to appropriately safeguard PHI.