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 November 21, 2011. Also cited in 208 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000068874, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 20 Portland, OR
Issue:
Veteran A received a 6 page letter in the mail from our facility notifying him that he had been authorized to receive non-VA Purchased Care for a certain treatment and a 7th page was folded in the envelope with Veteran B's information on it. The Privacy Officer has spoken to Veteran A, who is mailing Veteran B's document to him. Veteran B's document appears to be the first page of his Purchased Care authorization to a different provider than Veteran A. The information disclosed is reported to be Veteran B's full name, full social, DOB, and medication list.The Veteran received the envelope in the mail on Friday 11/15 and initially reported the issue to a Veteran Service organization who passed on the informaiton to our facility this morning. Update: 11/21/11:Veteran B will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.
Outcome:
The employee who made the error has been counseled to take more time when printing and mailing Veteran information back to back. The office Supervisor will be spending more time overseeing the process.