VA Data Breaches Go Live
By
Bob Brewin
Today the Veterans Affairs Department started posting online its <a href=http://www4.va.gov/about_va/va_notices.asp>monthly data breach reports</a> as part of its ongoing transparency thing, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told a press briefing this morning. He said the latest report (for July) might not make it to the Web until Thursday.
Today the Veterans Affairs Department started posting online its monthly data breach reports as part of its ongoing transparency thing, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told a press briefing this morning. He said the latest report (for July) might not make it to the Web until Thursday.
The reports include not only lost, misplaced or stolen computers and BlackBerries, but also misaddressed prescriptions sent out by the VA mail-order pharmacy operation, Baker said. Those packages contain sensitive veterans health information coupled with personal identifiers.
VA mailed out 5.6 million prescriptions last month, and a statically infinitesimal amount -- just 10 -- ended up in the wrong hands. If someone calls VA about receiving a misaddressed Rx, Baker said he or she is instructed to throw it away.
Nelson Grubbs in Pickering, Ohio, received an erroneously mailed Rx from VA earlier this month and following policy was told by VA to throw it away. Grubs told the Columbus, Ohio, NBC TV affiliate he had a hard time understanding the instruction because a local pharmacist valued the 90-day supply of a dementia drug he erroneously received at $700.
The TV station wanted to show the pill bottle on air, which resulted in the VA hospital in Columbus working with the station to blur out the label to keep from identifying a dementia patient, Baker said.
While it may seem wasteful to throw away $700 worth of drugs, the policy is enforce to ensure patient safety, because the "chain of custody" had been broken between VA and the intended recipient, he said.
Baker also said employees continue to lose BlackBerry gizmos -- 13 in July, 24 in June and 13 in May. That's something I have a hard time comprehending. He promised to supply me next month with a cumulative total for the number lost in 2010.
I asked if folks who lose their BlackBerrys are subject to a timeout before they are issued a new one. No, Baker said, because the low cost of the gadgets (a couple of hundred bucks) does not equal the loss in productivity that would result from a BlackBerry-less employee.
I live and work in a BlackBerry-free zone, and I believe my productivity is enhanced by not having one.