Think your medical records are private? Think again!!

[dajoki]

MSNBC
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/10/two_years_ago_w.html

Health care privacy law: All bark, no bite? Posted: Tuesday, October 24 at 12:01 am CT by Bob Sullivan

Two years ago, when Bill Clinton had heart surgery performed in New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, 17 hospital employees -- including a doctor -- peeked at the former president's health care records out of curiosity. Earlier this year, Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital repeatedly faxed patient admission sheets to a nearby bank by accident. The faxing continued even after bank employees warned the hospital. In Hawaii, Wilcox Memorial Hospital lost a thumb drive containing personal information on every one of its 120,000 current and former patients.

None of the institutions involved in these incidents has been fined under the highly touted medical privacy law, known as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

<<snip>>

Anyone who's been to a doctor's office or a hospital in the past three years knows HIPAA, even if they don't know it by name. Patients are now asked to sign an elaborate privacy information sheet when they first arrive at a medical practitioner’s office. The form lists in detail consumers' rights to keep their health care information private; but it often seems to confuse the patients. A California HealthCare Foundation study released last year found that only 59 percent of consumers recalled having received the form, and of those, only one-quarter believed that HIPAA gives them additional rights.

<<snip>>

"I don't think (federal agencies) are taking this all that seriously," said Borton, now president of health privacy consulting firm The Marblehead Group. "Enforcement is a farce. ... There is no funding for what we call the HIPAA police. It's a joke because there aren't any HIPAA police."

'Informal' action work, agency says
Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services bristle at this measurement of HIPAA's success. They argue that the agency has used "informal means" to correct 76 percent of complaints about privacy deficiencies at hospitals and medical offices.

[tanyev]

1. Meanwhile, my vet won't give me photocopies of my cat's

records so that I can personally take them to a kennel where I want to board him next month. My vet no longer boards, yet they are taking their own sweet time faxing the records to the place I want to use. I don't think HIPAA applies to animals, does it? :grr:

[kestrel91316]

7. Too bad you are in TX. I don't know the law there. But here in CA, if a

client requests a copy of records, the only appropriate answer is "Yes, ma'am (or sir). Would you like to pick those up here or have us send them somewhere for you? When do you need them by?"

CA state law is very clear about this. I still have to battle to get copies of records from some places when a client comes to me for a second opinion. But I train my own employees to comply with owner records requests immediately and cheerfully. No questions asked. And if the employee comes to me for approval, I sternly remind them that my approval is NOT EVER needed, and by coming to me they are obstructing the owner in their quest.

You could contact the TX veterinary medical board (a state agency) to find out what the law is there. In CA failure to comply with an owner's request for records is a very serious matter.

[tanyev]

9. Thanks, that's a good idea.

He did finally send the records, so we're set for now. But I don't see why they couldn't just give me copies to hand deliver. I may check with the TX state board for future reference.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. You forgot medical transcriptionists who are sometimes

working outside of the doctor's office or the hospital. I type medical reports for a variety of medical specialists from NYC and I see an occasional name that is in the media, so I know something personal that I really shouldn't, but can't avoid.

[Horse with no Name]

3. But you are bound by HIPAA laws

You are required to have your computer secured at all times, your files under lock and key, as well as shred documents that aren't necessary.
All transcriptionists are bound to this except the offshore ones.
Do they comply? I seriously doubt it but that is the way it is supposed to be done.
Some places just take it a little more seriously than others.
Take for instance the hospital where I work. All records are on a need to know basis.
I had a CT scan done last month. I wanted to see the results. However, our computer system is such that if I were to log in under my password to view the results, there would be an unauthorized activity report generated.
Any VIP(which includes hospital employees) has their records monitored closely and similar reports are generated and investigated and people do lose their jobs over these situations.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Correct on all counts.

My point was merely that because of the job duties, inadvertently I am exposed to information that is private. I wasn't suggesting that I contact to the National Enquirer, etc. with the information, only that your private matters aren't that private.

[havocmom]

4. Transcriptionists sometimes working outside the country

possibly near the place in India where your mortgage loan gets processed, which may be just down the street from that private offshore company the other company the IRS contracted with to do your tax returns.

You, are transparent to any corporate entity with a bit of pull. The government, on the other hand, not so transparent. It is Of, For, and By the corporation.

[onyourleft]

6. I did this for over 25 years from home and I never found it a

problem to respect another person's privacy. Isn't that part of the confidentiality agreement that most of us sign? It was part of mine. If you think you are in jeopardy in the U.S., how about those records going to India?

[no_hypocrisy]

8. You're correct. But my point remains that you can't do your

job without disclosure of private medical information. Whether you keep it to yourself or otherwise is irrelevent. The information ideally stays between you and your physician, but realistically is shared with medical staff, transcriptionists, consulting physicians, insurance personnel. I'm discussing disssemination, not what one would do with the information.

[ileus]

10. Thanks for reminding me I have 7 more hard drives to destroy...

I used to disassemble all the HD's for our hospital and destroy them. Now I take them home and blast them as target practice and bring them back....

As for hippa violations there's thousands of ways they can happen without staff ever knowing it.

[SouthernBelle82]

11. This is scary

How they're not taking this seriously is very scary. :\