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 Healthcare - VISN 4 (VISN 4)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on January 3, 2013. Also cited in 239 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000084238, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 04 Clarksburg, WV
Issue:
On 11/1/12, a sensitive record access log was generated at VA Pittsburgh for routine monitoring and auditing. Two accesses by a VA Clarksburg employee were identified as questionable. The access log was provided to the Clarksburg Information Security Officer (ISO) to investigate. At that time, it was determined the VA Clarksburg employee inappropriately accessed the Veterans medical record. The Veteran and VA Clarksburg employee are allegedly brothers. On this date, the VA Pittsburgh Privacy Officer (PO) was advised of the findings and this incident is being reported for the first time. Update: 01/07/13:The incident was investigated by Clarksburg since that is where the employees are employed, however the record accessed is in Pittlsburg. The record was access to find out about the Veterans up coming appointments. It is not known if the Veteran is aware of the access. A notification letter will be sent to the Veteran.
Outcome:
The Privacy Officer spoke with the employee about this incident. He stated that his brother called him and asked if his appointment had been made in Pittsburgh and the employee was looking to see if it had been made. I explained to employee that he should have directed his brother to the person responsible for making those appointments and not looked himself.