Transparency Archives

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.

The Veterans Affairs Department briefs Congress monthly on data breaches, and yesterday Roger Baker, chief information officer at VA, held the first of what he said will be similar monthly data breach briefings for the press.

Baker emphasized in the press call on Thursday the "information" tag in his title, and said that he has responsibility for the protection of all forms of veteran information, digital and paper.

He said despite the theft of an unencrypted laptop from a contractor last month, the VA experiences more paper than digital information breaches.

Baker categorized these as "onsies and twosies" such as when VA mail order pharmacies misdirect prescriptions. He said he would like to see no such errors, but with 7.5 million prescriptions mailed a month, some will end up in the wrong place.

But the VA's "mis-mails" only four or five of those prescriptions a month, a statically small error rate, he added.

Baker also said he decided to hold the monthly press call on data breaches as part of an overall transparency effort and so the media can deal with facts rather than rumor or supposition.

I also know Baker is smart enough to have figured out that congressional staffers talk to reporters every now and then.

The transparency thing touted by President Obama in his first full day in office evidently does not apply to all patient safety alerts issued by the Veterans Affairs Department.

In fact, the alert page of VA's National Center for Patient Safety makes it clear that the list of alerts posted on the site "is not complete."

I guess this means that the department does not post alerts of wide public interest -- such as the one I reported on Thursday thanks to an alert leaked to me, which detailed a software glitch that resulted in VA clinicians getting bum data when they accessed patient data in Defense Department electronic health record systems.

Since next week is National Patient Safety Awareness Week, I suggest VA honor the occasion by making a decision to post all patient safety alerts online.

The Veterans Affairs Department has opened up a new Web portal to solicit ideas from the public and from department employees on how it can become more transparent, collaborative and all those other open government buzzwords.

Some veterans view this as yet another forum to complain about benefits delayed or denied, and some VA employees view it as a place to take their gripes.

But there also are some real gems of suggestions on how to improve transparency, including one from an employee who recommended, "We should record (audio & video) and broadcast all the major budget meetings that take place at the SES level and above, specifically the one where the decisions that determine program funding are made."

I imagine that watching a bunch of SESers slice and dice even a small portion of the department's proposed $125 billion fiscal 2011 budget would not only enhance transparency but also induce sleep, saving VA money on sleeping pills.

The department will keep its transparency portal open until March 29.

The Veterans Affairs Department kicked off the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Initiative on Feb. 5 and asked its employees to come up with some good ideas to help it do the transformation thing.

VHA said its "competition is rooted in the simple belief that the ingenuity of the people who work on the front lines of VA know best how to improve health care and quality, access, and transparency in service to our nation's veterans."

Wow, what a concept. A management that believes its employees - not contractors - have the inside track on how to improve things.

That's almost as startling as suggesting that Washington, D.C., would be crippled by a snowfall measured in feet twice in three months.

Speaking of snow, I think VA may have to extend the original contest deadline of Feb. 21 by a few days if the snow continues to lead to shutdowns of the government in Washington.