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.
Sierra Pacific Network (VISN 21)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on June 13, 2012. Also cited in 141 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000076696, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 21 San Francisco, CA
Issue:
The Privacy Officer (PO) of the SF Department. of Public Health (SFDPH) contacted SFVAMC PO. Pages of what appears to be hand-written notes on various patients were found in a trash can at a public park in SF. The SFDPH employee who discovered the pages noticed paper was littered around a trash can and birds were picking through the trash within. Upon closer inspection, the SFDPH employee saw it contained personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) and notified the appropriate channels at SFDPH, who subsequently contacted the SFVA PO. The pages contained names, dates of birth, full SSNs and PHI. Update: 06/13/12:PO spoke with SFDPH PO who faxed over the documents and will be sending the originals via mail. From the fax, PO cannot discern who the notes belong to, but can tell which wards they are from. PO has contacted the SFDPH employee who initially discovered the paperwork in the park trash can and left a message for the employee to call back.PO will contact the Nurse Manager of the ward (1A) to see if we can trouble shoot and resolve where this could have come from.06/15/12:The print out was a list of inpatients on 1A ward (5 patients info are visible), therefore 5 Patient will receive a letter offering credit protection Services.
Outcome:
PO received verification that Employee completed the required Privacy training. Credit monitor letters have been signed by Director and sent via mail.