KPTV reports:
Dozens of patients at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center could be at risk for identity theft after their identity cards were lost.
Medical center staff say 50 to 75 patient ID cards were lost in late January.
The cards were being held by the hospital after they had been returned due to wrong mailing addresses.
VA staff say over-the-counter bar code readers can grab a patient’s information from the card, including Social Security numbers and birth dates.
[…]
A press release from the VA, published by The Oregonian adds:
On January 31, 2011, cards of approximately 50 to 75 Veterans that were mailed and then returned between Jan. 1, 2011 and Jan. 27, 2011 were discovered missing from the hospital’s enrollment office. Despite a thorough search and investigation, the missing cards have not been found.
And they’re still using Social Security Numbers for patient identification… why?
As a former employee of the VA, they have always used the patient’s SSN as an identifier. That includes checking in for clinic appointments or updating your administrative records in the computer.
The problem is that what happened to the cards that were returned. They are supposed to routinely ask the patient if their address and phone number information in the system are correct. They should have made sure the addresses were correct. Also did the patients request that their ID card be mailed to them. I have my medications from the VA mailed to me.