The Lebanon VA Medical Center has released more information regarding its accidental exposure of veterans’ medical information this past November.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ breach portal, just over 1,000 individuals were affected by the unintentional disclosure incident that occurred in November.
Along with the official HHS report, the VA also published their own release with more information on the disclosure incident.
According to the VA, protected health information was erroneously sent to a family member exploring nursing home placement. While the employee intended to send a list of nursing home facilities, the actual file sent included the names, abbreviated social security numbers, diagnoses, and nursing home assignments for approximately 1,000 vets.
“A review of the incident was initiated and appropriate measures both in the section where this occurred and throughout the facility have been implemented to prevent future occurrence,” said medical center director Robert W. Callahan Jr in the release.
An article by HIPAA Journal offers more details on the remedies implemented by the VA to prevent this kind of breach in the future.:
- Files with historic information have been encrypted and given access controls
- The email system has been changed to prevent employees from sending email attachments externally
If you were impacted by this breach, you have almost certainly already been notified by letter.
With questions or concerns, the public should contact the facility’s privacy officer, Tonya Hromco, at 1-800-409-8771 (extension 4614).