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October 22, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has had serious issues over the last couple of years in keeping private information private. Once again, something has gone terribly wrong between the VA and keeping a soldier's privacy in tact.
The Department of Defense (DoD) health records system and the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA) links in real time to the VA's health records system, Vista. Because of the real time connection, medical information can be transmitted between the systems in order to make treating soldiers and veterans as smooth as possible.
Last month, however, a serious privacy breach occurred that has led to the VA and the Pentagon are working together to conduct a thorough investigation. The problems began when a veteran who was scheduled to re-deploy to Afghanistan and return to combat was told he could not.
A DoD doctor who was suppose to clear the soldier for deployment was somehow able to access the soldier's medical records from the Albuquerque Veterans Center that included notes about previous treatments the soldier had received for "traumatic events". The system was designed to keep these sorts of notes confidential.
As a result, the Ft. Benning Army doctor who was charged with medically passing the soldier for re-deployment did not clear the soldier based on information he should never have had access to.
The Va's assistant secretary for information and technology, Roger Baker, discussed the incident in a recent press conference, stating:
We try to be very, very careful with those things (medical health records), in fact, we're trying to find out how that could possibly have happened, with all the safeguards that we have in place. The concerning piece here is that it should not have happened one time. We have to ensure that it's not happening now. It's a pretty complex area of privacy when you're talking about constraining what two federal agencies can share with each other.
The investigation is focusing on not just privacy but the IT aspect of the flaw. Once they discover how the information got to the DoD, they can fix the problem.
Soldiers can return home with a number of conditions, injuries, and aggravated preexisting conditions. If you believe you have a service-connected physical or psychological injury you may be entitled to Veterans’ Disability Compensation.
At LaVan and Neidenberg, we are determined to secure veterans their rightful disability compensation and disability rating. We wrote this book for you! In it you will find valuable tips on how to navigate the claims process and avoid common pitfalls. Request your FREE copy today!
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