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-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on February 25, 2013. Also cited in 187 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000086109, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 06 Hampton, VA
Issue:
A Privacy Complaint from April 2012 was not entered into the Privacy and security Events Tracking System (PSETS). Per the VHA Privacy Office, the Privacy Complaint must be entered into PSETS. The Final Determination Letter was mailed to the Veteran on 07/13/12 and the case was closed. Update: 03/13/13:This ticket is in reference to an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaint. The VHA Privacy Office is handling the response to OCR. The original privacy complaint was to review any inappropriate access to the Veteran employee's medical record. At the time, the Privacy Officer (PO) did not realize Privacy complaints regarding access to a Veteran's medical records needed to be entered into PSETS. The PO could not find any information in the system to justify the access for one of the employees who accessed the record. Also, the employee could not provide documentation regarding the access to the record. The PO provided Privacy Policy training to the employee regarding access to a Veteran's protected health information (PHI). The VHA Privacy Office asked the PO to update the ticket to an incident because of the access by the employee. She will upload the Final Determination letter to the Veteran and the privacy training information regarding the corrective action provided. The Veteran employee will receive a HIPAA letter of notification.
Outcome:
Privacy Officer provided training to the VA employees who accessed the Veteran's medical records. PO received additional information (claim form) from one VA employee in regards to the access to medical records to verify the Veteran's home address. PO uploaded the Incident Response letter and training information to the VHA Privacy Office in response to the Office of Civil Rights complaint.