Privacy breach through VA Choice program.

[kent101]

My provider's name appears on the front of the letter where it can be seen by anyone. Isn't this a breach of veteran's privacy?

Edited December 10, 2018 by kent101

[Buck52]

kent101

this is the first time I ever heard of such a thing?

I don't know why they had your therapist name on the letter front? unless the letter came from the therapist her/him self?

 Elder and long time Hadit member Ms berta  will  possibly be able to help you on rather or not they violated your privacy or not?  I am not sure on this?

[broncovet]

Probably.   If you want/expect privacy, dont go to the VA, and certainly dont apply for benefits.  VA employees at all levels in multiple states read our cfile.  

VA's breach of privacy is unprecedented in the civilain world.  Example:  You go to the VA, fill a prescription, and your name is up on the tv when ready to be picked up.  So, your neighbor can go down there, read your name, and say, "gee, Joe Smith, did they fill your viagra prescription for ya?"  

In order to get VA benefits we have to sign a "release of information" that applies to hundreds of thousands of VA employees, where any one can look up your private information, including ssn.   

Quite simply, when applying for benefits or seeking va medical care, our information  is posted on vbms, available to any vamc for any reason.  

ONE of the costs of "free VA care" is that we give up any semblance of privacy.  

[Buck52]

Broncovet

Don't they have to put in our SS # OR SERVICE # into the computer to the VBMS to open up a file that has our records in it?  That's the only way they can access our records..we have to tell them our SS#  Or our last four..

The monitors around my VAMC to let Veterans know their prescriptions are ready only has our name  up on it not what our prescriptions are.

I don't usually get my prescriptions that way I use Myhealthvet and order online  been doing that for a long time

BTW Today is the 15th year Myhealthvet has been in effect.

[GeekySquid]

On 11/27/2018 at 4:46 PM, kent101 said:

My therapist name appears on the front of the letter

what do you mean on the front of the letter? does it come in a franked envelope and the Dr.'s name is visible next to your name and address?

or is it a letter that says something like

Dear sir, we have paid Dr.XXXXX some amount of money for your treatment.

The first would be an absurdity and probably make it undeliverable

the second is not a breach of privacy. 

A letter that comes in a sealed envelope covers 99.99% of privacy requirements. If and when you get and open the envelope the privacy concerns are in your hands. if you leave it laying around for others to see, that is on you.

An example of privacy as you are seeming to look for might be if the VA called your work and told whomever answered the phone they need to talk to you about your shrinks bill or anti-psychotic med refill. then the VA is telling a 3rd party your personal business. Another example is if they leave a detailed message on an answering machine. They have no way of knowing who might hear or have access to that message. just saying they are calling about xxx appt next Tuesday is legally permissible.

hope that clears up your concern

 

[kent101]

On 11/28/2018 at 8:56 PM, GeekySquid said:

what do you mean on the front of the letter? does it come in a franked envelope and the Dr.'s name is visible next to your name and address?

or is it a letter that says something like

Dear sir, we have paid Dr.XXXXX some amount of money for your treatment.

The first would be an absurdity and probably make it undeliverable

the second is not a breach of privacy. 

A letter that comes in a sealed envelope covers 99.99% of privacy requirements. If and when you get and open the envelope the privacy concerns are in your hands. if you leave it laying around for others to see, that is on you.

An example of privacy as you are seeming to look for might be if the VA called your work and told whomever answered the phone they need to talk to you about your shrinks bill or anti-psychotic med refill. then the VA is telling a 3rd party your personal business. Another example is if they leave a detailed message on an answering machine. They have no way of knowing who might hear or have access to that message. just saying they are calling about xxx appt next Tuesday is legally permissible.

hope that clears up your concern

 

On the front in plastic area it tells provider's name.

Edited December 10, 2018 by kent101

[GeekySquid]

5 minutes ago, kent101 said:

On the front of the letter their is plastic that is clear. In that area is says my therapist name, but on some letters it hasn't appeared on that spot, s

that plastic area of the envelope is the 'franking' I was asking about...odd term I know but that is what it is  called.

since I cannot see exactly what the letter looked like i can only speculate that it was not in-line with your name and or address. possibly up and to the side, maybe? kinda?

either way it would not be a privacy violation for legal purposes. The mere mention of doctor or their name does not rise to a level of a legal problem on a document inside a sealed envelope.

now if in the franked area it said something like "your syphilis test came back positive" you would have a complaint but would unlikely get much money for a single instance. if you got ten of them that would be a different story.

privacy is a big issue these days, and many people freak out more when NSA or DHS is 'once again' found to be doing what Congress says they can do. The sad part is everyone gives away more information everyday than NSA or DHS ever collects without a warrant. We give marketers, banks, credit cards, web sites, magazines and even our coffee shop and grocery store tons of personal info and never think anything of it, yet they are the source of most identity theft issues.

just visiting this website means that at least 8 anonymous (unknown to you) machines intercepted, stored, and tracked your web-movements. This includes your ISP and your browser. Along the way from almost any location in the US you will have hit at least 4 nodes that do nothing but capture and relay traffic, storing the info as the data passes through.