A Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, D.C., uncovered significant delays in sending patients test results for mammograms and other breast cancer screening tests due to an employee error, reports NBC4 Washington.
In late August, the hospital discovered that letters summarizing test results dating back to Feb. 28 were never sent to patients, according to a hospital memo cited by NBC4 Washington. During this time period, the hospital conducted more than 1,400 breast cancer screenings.
VA policy requires hospitals to send these letters within 30 days and inform patients of abnormal test results within one week.
"While there was a delay in mailing a number of letters due to an administrative error, there was absolutely no delay in notifying any patients of their mammography results, which the patients' primary care providers or mammographer personally communicated to each patient," a VA spokesperson told NBC4 Washington. "As a result, there was no impact to patient care."
The hospital has disciplined several employees involved in the incident, assigned nurse navigators to work with veterans undergoing testing and moved program oversight to the manager of its women's health program, the spokesperson said.