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 Mid South Healthcare Network (VISN 9)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on February 13, 2012. Also cited in 328 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000071720, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 09 Memphis, TN
Issue:
On 02/13/12, Veteran A called and reported to the Privacy Officer (PO) that Veteran B notified him on 02/11/12 that when Veteran B opened his Compensation and Pension clinic appointment letter that he received via US mail, he saw his (complainant) clinic appointment letter stuffed in the same envelope. The other Veteran was concerned that the complainant would miss his C&P appointment date and so that compeYoulled him to call to provide him details of his appointment date, and also to make him aware of the incident. Complainant is worried about other Personally Identifiable Information that may have been exposed to this Veteran. He thought there may be other documents about him that may have accidentally been sent to this Veteran or someone else. Update: 02/22/12:Upon investigation this morning, the PO identified that the clinic appointment letters usually contain the Veterans full name, mailing address and last 4 of their SSN. Veteran A will be sent a HIPAA notification letter.
Outcome:
Since PO could not reach and discuss this issue with the Veteran who received complainant's C&P letter, he met with the Supervisor from C&P to discuss the resolution of this complaint. Supervisor stated she will be meeting with her staff and address the issue to prevent such an incident from happening again. PO has notified complainant and uploaded a redacted copy of notification letter on 3/12/2012.