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Veterans Affairs discovers off-label use for HIPAA [Whistleblower Control?]
[By Darrell K. Pruitt DDS]
“VA uses patient privacy to go after whistleblowers, critics say,” by Joe Davidson for The Washington Post, July 17, 2014.
Davidson writes:
“Citing patient privacy, managers have threatened VA employees or retaliated against those who complain about agency misconduct, according to a key congressman and the union that represents most of the department’s employees.”
Chairman Jeff Miller Speaks
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), who as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is leading a probe into the cover-up of long waiting times for VA patients, tells the Washington Post that the “VA routinely uses HIPAA as an excuse to punish into submission employees who dare to speak out.”
Davidson adds that in a letter to President Obama earlier this month, Miller said,
“If VA cannot protect whistleblowers who reveal corruption it is not a system worth saving.”
As it turns out, the VA is no stranger to HIPAA. In 2006, the VA agreed to pay a $20 million fine because an agency employee took home records on 26.5 million veterans that were subsequently stolen by a burglar. The lost data included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and medical information.
***
***
In 2012, six years following breach, a humble Roger Baker, the CEO of Veterans Affairs, told reporters,
“Nobody wants to have that same birthmark that we had relative to that laptop. I can tell you for certain that it has had a huge and lasting impact on the VA.”
(See: “6 lasting effects of 2006 VA data breach on privacy, security,” by Mary Mosquera, for GovHealthIT.com, May 24, 2012)
http://www.govhealthit.com/news/6-lasting-effects-2006-va-data-breach-privacy-security#.U8lufPldWz4
Assessment
I agree with Rep. Miller. The VA is not worth saving.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Ethics, Practice Management | Tagged: Is the VA Worth Saving?, VA, Veterans Administration |
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A VA Deal in the Works?
The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees may have just reached a tentative agreement on a plan to fix a veterans’ health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up delays.
* http://news.msn.com/us/tentative-deal-reached-on-va-reform
* http://news.msn.com/us/after-6-weeks-finally-a-deal-on-va-health-care
But, is this a Faustian-like deal with the Devil?
Ann Miller RN MHA
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More on the VA Mess
A new VA bill allows more vets to seek care at private clinics.
http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/house-va-bill-allows-more-vets-seek-care-private-clinics
Any thoughts?
Judy
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Obama signs veterans’ health care overhaul
Veterans may soon have easier access to government-paid health care under a bill President Barack Obama just signed into law, the government’s most sweeping response to date to a public uproar over system wide problems that have rocked the Veterans Affairs Department.
http://news.msn.com/us/obama-signs-veterans-health-care-overhaul
Ann Miller RN MHA
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The Effect of Too Many Doctor Days
Nothing creates more panic in the eyes of office managers than holes in the schedule. While doctors may complain about too much work and not enough time with a patient, the corollary is a lack of work.
The natural tendancy is to try and fill the day. If the day is filled by increasing sevice levels to patients that’s great.
http://waittimes.blogspot.com/2008/11/effect-of-too-many-doctor-days.html
However, the common approach is to add time to existing appointments.
Pam
[Wait Time & Delayed Care]
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More veterans seek care with private physicians
[But – reimbursement rates draw concern]
http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/medical-economics/news/more-vets-seek-care-private-physicians-reimbursements-below-medicare-rates
The number of veterans receiving care at private clinics is increasing, but reimbursements may fall below Medicare rates.
Is anyone surprised?
Isabelle
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The $1,000 Pill That Could Cripple the VA’s Budget
The Department of Veterans Affairs, still reeling from a scandal over the negligent treatment of veterans seeking medical care that may have contributed to some deaths, has a new problem on its hands.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-dollar1000-pill-that-could-cripple-the-va%e2%80%99s-budget/ar-BB89cxB
Edgar
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Fostering a Socially Responsible Health Care System
Fostering an ethical corporate culture is the objective of the National Department of Veterans Affairs Integrated Ethics initiative. Through the program, VA health care facilities across the nation are examining the ethical dimensions of both patient care and organizational decision-making, acknowledging the importance of ethics at all levels. While this initiative focuses on a large system, the fundamental goals of integrating ethics into all aspects of operations applies to any organization, from a large medical center to a physician’s office practice. To learn more about this program, visit the website for the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Healthcare at http://www.ethics.va.gov.
In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, authors Ezekiel Emanual, MD PhD and Nancy Dubler, LLB. cited what they call the “Six C’s” of the ideal physician-patient relationship: Choice, Competence, Communications, Compassion, Continuity, and [no] Conflict of interest. Physicians who accept a seventh “C” – the Challenge, and are imbued with the moral sensitivity embodied in their solemn oath, have an obligation to serve as the conscience of this new system dedicated toward caring for all Americans.
Writer and ethicist Emily Friedman said it best when she wrote, “There are many communities in health care. But, three to which I hope we all belong are the communities devoted to improving the health of all around us, to achieving access to care for all, and to providing our services at a price that society can afford. These interests are, of course, expressions of the deeper community of values that states that healing, justice, and equality must guide what we believe and do.”
Really?
Dr. David E. Marcinko MBA
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Veterans Affairs Health Care
After a year of scandal at the VA, where officials were accused of keeping secret wait lists and hiding poor treatment of veterans, it’s no surprise the $55.5 billion health care program serving more than 8.9 million veterans is considered “high risk.”
GAO said it issued eight reports on the VA health system last year detailing delays, lax oversight and mismanagement.
Judy
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Cash-strapped VA might start rationing some treatments
The cost of treating veterans suffering from the potentially deadly Hepatitis-C virus has become so onerous that health centers run by the Department of Veterans Affairs are considering rationing funding — essentially making life and death decisions about who qualifies for new costly miracle drugs and who doesn’t.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/cash-strapped-va-might-start-rationing-some-treatments/ar-AAc6A4i?ocid=iehp
Pamela
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Another VA Headache: Privacy Violations Rising at Veterans’ Medical Facilities
Deceased vets’ data has been sent to the wrong widows. Employees have snooped on the records of patients who’ve committed suicide. And whistleblowers say their own medical privacy has been violated.
https://www.propublica.org/article/privacy-violations-rising-at-veterans-medical-facilities?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter
In response, the VA says patient privacy is a priority.
Judy
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