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 Health Care Upstate New York (VISN 2)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on January 31, 2012. Also cited in 132 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000071226, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY
Issue:
Patient A contacted the Privacy Officer to notify her that he had received Patient B's medication in error. Patient A reported that he had received prescription medications on more than one occasion for Patient B in the past week and that he had returned the packages to sender by UPS. He stated that the prescription package contained Patient B's name but his address which is a temporary address in another state. The Privacy Officer reviewed this further and determined that Patient A's permanent address and temporary address were correct but Patient A's temporary address was entered in Patient B's record in error. The Privacy Officer contacted the Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor who stated that the prescription label will print the temporary address, if one is entered and active in the patient's medical record, not the permanent address . The Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor reviewed the issue and confirmed that Patient B's prescriptions that were returned by Patient A were received by them and re-sent last week, being unaware that the reason they were returned was due to the temporary address error. The Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor had the Pharmacy Tech contact Patient A to notify him the prescription for Patient B had been sent to his address again in error and to return the medication when received. In addition, the Pharmacy Tech contacted Patient B to notify him of the error, that his medications were being sent to him, and that the temporary addressed entered in error was removed from his record. Update: 01/31/12:Patient B will be sent a notification letter due to name and PHI being exposed.
Outcome:
Per the Pharmacy Manager, the protocol is for staff to verify addresses on returns before resending the prescription. He has reviewed the importance of address verification/clarification on all returns with the pharmacy staff. Notification letter sent to Patient B.