From staff reports
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is sending letters to 2,380 veterans notifying them of the potential disclosure of limited information that may have been sent to another VA patient.
The Veteran Integrated Services Network (VISN) 4 had 264 letters mailed and VISN 5 had 2,116 letters mailed.
No Social Security numbers or other identifying information were divulged in the mix-up, caused when Xerox Corp., under contract to VA, experienced a printing error in November.
The appointment notification postcards were generated by an application that converts information in a patient’s electronic health record to an easy-to-read format, then prints, seals and mails the postcards.
This was due to a misalignment, or improper match, of the content with the name and address of the appointment postcard recipient, and this error wasn’t discovered until Nov. 14.
Corrected appointment postcards were mailed to all affected patients Nov. 16.
Veterans who have questions or concerns about whether their personal information may have been involved and who receive health care at the Wilmington, Altoona, Coatesville, Erie or Pittsburgh medical centers within VISN 4 can call (855) 429-7502 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
