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 October 5, 2011. Also cited in 132 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000067449, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY
Issue:
Patient A's prescription was included in error in the package mailed to Patient B with his prescriptions. This occurred when Patient B's medications were being wrapped by the pharmacy tech for proper mailing via UPS as the medications had been previously prepared for pick up by both patients and had not occurred. Patient B realized he had received Patient A's medication in error and returned it to the Rome Clinic Pharmacy who then notified Patient A and re-sent his medication to him. No social security information was contained on the order but the patients name, address and drug information was inappropriately disclosed to Patient B. The Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor has addressed the error with the pharmacy tech and will be reviewing requirement to confirm patient identifiers during the wrapping process with all staff at the next department meeting to make everyone aware of the potential for this error to occur and to avoid it in the future. Update: 10/05/11:Patient A will be sent a notification letter due to PHI being disclosed
Outcome:
Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor addressed the error with the Pharmacy Tech and re-educated the other techs regarding the requirement to confirm patient identifiers when wrapping for mailing to avoid future errors.