VA New England Healthcare System (VISN 1)

Report ID: SPE000000070712, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Reported Entity: VISN 01 Manchester, NH

Issue:

A VA Employee had a list of patients who were seen in her clinic for a week. It was stored in a mail crate along with deceased patients' outside records. This was a storage place for this employee with other personal stuff. When she came in the morning shift, she found this mail crate emptied. She verified that housekeeping disposed of the papers and once the trash is picked up, it is put in the trash bin and compacted. The list contained the patient's name, full SSN, diagnosis and medications. Update: 01/16/12:According to the Privacy Officer (PO), only the provider's clinic list was recreated. The outside documents are from other facilities and there is no chance on that recovering information since all that is known is that they were expired patients. There was a total of 27 patients scheduled in this clinic, therefore 27 patients will receive a letter offering credit protection services.01/23/12:According to the Vendor who removes the trash it is sometimes burned and sometimes buried. It goes from the facility to the Auburn Transfer Station which the vendor owns, from there it goes into 100 yard capacity trailers haul trash loads to either one of three of the closest incinerators in Penacook NH , North Andover MA, or Claremont NH. Or it could go to the Vendor's Landfill in Rochester NH depending on where the demand is greater week to week. In the colder months the majority of the trash goes to the incinerators as it takes more trash to keep them running at full capacity.

Outcome:

Education and counseling was done with this employee. The mail crate was removed from the office and employee was given a cabinet that locks. Lettersare mailed to all 27 patients. A copy of the redacted letter will be sent to IRCT.