1065 Missing Smartphone Procedures | ADMINISTRATION-5600-MANUAL
|
Georgia Division of Aging Services |
|||
Chapter: |
1000 General DAS Administration |
Effective Date: |
||
Section Title: |
Missing Smartphone Procedures |
Reviewed or Updated in: |
2019-05 |
|
Section Number: |
1065 |
Previous Update: |
||
Summary Statement
This section establishes procedures and guidelines for lost, stolen or misplaced smartphones issued to staff by DHS/DAS.
Basic Considerations
Any smartphone issued to staff by DHS is state property to be tracked and managed by the Division of Aging Services.
Many staff are issued state smartphones, as necessary, to assist with effective program work and field safety.
Phones may contain protected health information, case notes, case related text messages, and/or photographs related to clients. Due to the state and federal laws protecting such information, lost smart phones must be appropriately reported through the HIPAA Breach Incident Reporting Form submitted to Office of General Counsel.
Required HIPAA Breach Reporting
In addition to reporting to your Supervisor and the Smartphone Liaison, you must complete a HIPAA Breach Incident Report form.
The HIPAA Breach Incident Report form can be found on the DHS Intranet, on the Office of General Counsel page.
You must complete this form and send it to the DHS HIPAA Privacy Officer in compliance with DHS Office of General Counsel Policy 1660.
Procedures
If a phone is misplaced, employees have one business day to report the loss.
Example: If the phone is lost on a Monday afternoon, it should be reported no later than Tuesday afternoon. If the phone is lost on a Friday morning, it should be reported no later than Monday morning.
When a phone is misplaced - follow these steps to attempt to recover the phone. Employees may engage in the steps below for one business day. Search steps include but are not limited to:
-
Call the phone
-
Search the pockets of clothes/coats
-
Search the car with a flashlight
-
Contact clients visited during the day
-
Return to any stores or businesses visited
-
Search the favorite hiding spots of any animals or small children known to hide items
Report the phone loss to your Supervisor and the Smartphone Liaison. Note the Smartphone Liaison’s phone number is on the APS/PGO phone list on page one.
The Smartphone Liaison will coordinate use of the “Find My Phone” feature through DHS’s internal Wireless Support which will report the phone’s last known location.
| The “Find My Phone” feature will return the last address at which the phone sent a signal. If the address is familiar to the worker i.e. it is a home address, the address of a store visited, the worker can again try to locate the phone. |
If it is still unfound, the worker should report back to the Smartphone Liaison that the phone can’t be located. A replacement device will be provided.
If the address reported back to the worker is not familiar, then the worker doesn’t need to attempt to drive to the location or recover the phone. Report back to the Smartphone liaison that the address is not familiar and report the phone stolen. The phone will be erased, and a replacement device will be provided.
If the worker isn’t sure and wants to drive by the address, they may do so if they feel safe. If at any time the worker feels unsafe, they should abandon the search.
If there is any question or concern, call the Smartphone Liaison to clarify.