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 January 9, 2013. Also cited in 208 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000084467, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 20 Seattle, WA
Issue:
This issue was first identified by Valor Healthcare, Inc. on 01/08/13 at 12:10 PM after Veteran A's wife contacted the RN Administrator at the Federal Way Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) and informed her that she discovered that her husband was given a copy of Veteran B's prescription at the time of discharge at the CBOC along with his own. The prescription contained Veteran B's SSN. The duplicate prescription was returned to the CBOC and destroyed. The Associate responsible for the mix-up has been reminded to use caution when passing off Protected Health Information/Personally Identifiable Information (PHI/PII) to assure proper identification Update: 01/10/13:Veteran B will receive a letter offering credit protection services.
Outcome:
Staff at CBOC were re-educated as to the proper procedures for distributing prescriptions to patients, and ensuring that mis-handling did not occur.