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.
Northwest Network (VISN 20)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on December 27, 2011. Also cited in 208 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000070099, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 20 Portland, OR
Issue:
Veteran A received a lab results letter in the mail with Veteran B's two page lab results letter folded with it in the same envelope. Upon discovering the error, Veteran A called the VA Health Resource Center (HRC) contact phone number he had on hand to report the mistake. The HRC asked the Veteran to mail the documents to them. The HRC Privacy Officer received the documents, scanned them to PDF format and emailed the incident information to the Portland VA Privacy Officer today. Update: 12/27/11:Veteran B will be sent a notification letter due to name and PHI being disclosed.
Outcome:
The Privacy Officer is working to identify the office which mailed the envelope to make them aware of the error and prevent future events. The Office is already modifying their procedures for how their staff print and mail letters to Veterans so errors of this kind will be less likely to occur.