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.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported a breach of medical information involving at least 500 people to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights; the report was received on June 14, 2013. Also cited in 336 other reports.
Report ID: NC031, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
Reported Entity: Fayetteville VAMC
Issue:
The covered entity (CE), Fayetteville VA Medical Clinic Optical Shop, impermissibly disclosed the protected health information (PHI) of approximately 1,094 individuals by placing consultation reports in the recycling bin rather than the shredding bin. The PHI involved in the breach included patients' names, social security numbers, birthdates, addresses, and phone numbers. The CE provided breach notification to all patients seen in the facility since the origination of the breach, HHS, and the media. The CE conducted an investigation and removed documents containing PHI from the recycle bin and shredded them according to the CE's procedure. \ \The CE provided evidence that it provided additional training regarding security of PHI and disposal methods for documents that contained PHI for Optical Shop workforce members. In addition, the CE improved safeguards by placing a document shredder on-site. The responsible staff member was sanctioned according to the CE policy. OCR obtained assurances that the corrective actions listed above were completed. \