Latest posts

Forum Statistics

Threads
27,576
Posts
541,624
Members
28,555
Latest Member
pbtom
What's New?

HIPPA Question...

BackAtIt

BackAtIt

MuscleHead
Oct 3, 2016
2,185
668
Below is an excerpt of a conversation that occurred on Quora...A Periodontal Plastic Surgeon was sharing what had happened in regards to one of her husband patients....My question is this, did the Doctor by posting this on Quora violate the HIPPA law?...I say no, others said yes...What do u think?...

Below the excerpt of the said conversation is the HIPPA doc....From what I can tell, the Doc didn't violate it...





Some years ago, my husband sedated a patient for a periodontal surgery. While going under, he reassured her that everything was going well and that he will be taking good care of her.

The patient confidently answered, “I KNOW! YOU ARE A GOOD GUY!”

My husband jokingly asked, “HOW DO YOU KNOW?”

She answered, “IT’S SIMPLE. I WORK FOR ***** AND I RAN YOUR CREDIT. I EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.”

After the procedure was done, she did not remember a thing.

Whether it was true or not, we still don’t know to this day. But it is scary to think about….





Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) | OHSU

What is a HIPAA Violation?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a landmark piece of legislation that was introduced to simplify the administration of healthcare, eliminate wastage, prevent healthcare fraud, and ensure that employees could maintain healthcare coverage when between jobs.

There have been notable updates to HIPAA to improve privacy protections for patients and health plan members over the years which help to ensure healthcare data is safeguarded and the privacy of patients is protected. Those updates include the HIPAA Privacy Rule, HIPAA Security Rule, HIPAA Omnibus Rule, and the HIPAA

Breach Notification Rule.

A HIPAA violation is a failure to comply with any aspect of HIPAA standards and provisions detailed in detailed in 45 CFR Parts 160, 162, and 164.
The combined text of all HIPAA regulations published by the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights runs to 115 pages and contains many provisions. There are hundreds of ways that HIPAA Rules can be violated, although the most common HIPAA violations are:

Impermissible disclosures of protected health information (PHI)
Unauthorized accessing of PHI
Improper disposal of PHI
Failure to conduct a risk analysis
Failure to manage risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI
Failure to implement safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI
Failure to maintain and monitor PHI access logs
Failure to enter into a HIPAA-compliant business associate agreement with vendors prior to giving access to PHI
Failure to provide patients with copies of their PHI on request
Failure to implement access controls to limit who can view PHI
Failure to terminate access rights to PHI when no longer required
The disclosure more PHI than is necessary for a particular task to be performed
Failure to provide HIPAA training and security awareness training
Theft of patient records
Unauthorized release of PHI to individuals not authorized to receive the information
Sharing of PHI online or via social media without permission
Mishandling and mismailing PHI
Texting PHI
Failure to encrypt PHI or use an alternative, equivalent measure to prevent unauthorized access/disclosure
Failure to notify an individual (or the Office for Civil Rights) of a security incident involving PHI within 60 days of the discovery of a breach
Failure to document compliance efforts
 
Lizard King

Lizard King

Administrator
Staff Member
Sep 9, 2010
14,532
7,974
So the patient ran the doctors credit score? Not sure why that would have anything to do with HIPPA.

The patient most likely violated her workplace policy by running the physicians info covered under some "Need to Know" policy.
 
enjoy_tren

enjoy_tren

VIP Member
Jan 7, 2014
448
309
If i was the dentist id report her unethical conduct to her employer. But hippa is concerns the actions of health care providers
 
MorganKane

MorganKane

VIP Member
Nov 12, 2012
1,721
1,001
Unless a name is attached then its not a violation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ceo
MorganKane

MorganKane

VIP Member
Nov 12, 2012
1,721
1,001
If i was the dentist id report her unethical conduct to her employer. But hippa is concerns the actions of health care providers

He would have had to violate HIPPA to file the complaint.
Also, reveal the conversation of patient under sedation isnt exactly cool and might be a violation of state board rules.
 
Mike_RN

Mike_RN

Senior Moderators
Staff Member
Aug 13, 2013
2,643
2,919
The wife of a doctor telling a story about a patient unethically background checking her husband. There’s no protected Healthcare Information there being discussed.

No patient name or medical record number disclosed.

Nothing about the procedure or patients health informatics was discussed.
 
BackAtIt

BackAtIt

MuscleHead
Oct 3, 2016
2,185
668
The wife of a doctor telling a story about a patient unethically background checking her husband. There’s no protected Healthcare Information there being discussed.

No patient name or medical record number disclosed.

Nothing about the procedure or patients health informatics was discussed.


That's what I was thinking...I'm more concerned about the patient abusing her end of the matter...I can only imagine how many times a day this type of abuse of power goes down...:(
 
BackAtIt

BackAtIt

MuscleHead
Oct 3, 2016
2,185
668
So the patient ran the doctors credit score? Not sure why that would have anything to do with HIPPA.

The patient most likely violated her workplace policy by running the physicians info covered under some "Need to Know" policy.


Some people on Quora said that the wife shouldn't have mentioned the conversation between her husband (dentist) and the patient on a social media platform...Claimed it violated HIPPA by doing so...
 
D

DragonRider

Member
Sep 17, 2010
18
7
So the patient ran the doctors credit score? Not sure why that would have anything to do with HIPPA.

The patient most likely violated her workplace policy by running the physicians info covered under some "Need to Know" policy.
Agreed. HIPAA is intended to protect patient information, not provider information. If there is a violation, I would think the patient violated the privacy act of 1974 by running protected information without a legitimate need. On the other hand, if anyone has heard of this story from any other source and could narrow down who the patient was, then the wife committed a HIPAA violation.
 
woodswise

woodswise

TID Board Of Directors
Apr 29, 2012
4,334
1,340
Attorneys have a similar restriction on sharing their clients' information. But we can and do often speak to others about a client's case without revealing identifying information. Usually it is a funny story that has nothing to do with the legal matter we were working on. It is important not to share private information that could cause harm, because even if you are not identifying them, there is always a chance a person hearing your story could identify who you are speaking about.

In this case, the doctor told his wife about the patient's statement, a statement that had nothing to do with the care he was giving to the patient nor did it inlcude any private medical information. The wife (not the doctor himself) shared the anecdote on a public forum.

Definitely not a HIPPA violation.

Sharing with his wife could have been a HIPPA violation but only if he shared the patient's private medical information with her and the wife was not part of the establishment treating the patient.
 
C

ceo

VIP Member
Oct 12, 2010
1,148
908
The wife of a doctor telling a story about a patient unethically background checking her husband. There’s no protected Healthcare Information there being discussed.

No patient name or medical record number disclosed.

Nothing about the procedure or patients health informatics was discussed.
This. Done.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Who is viewing this thread?

There are currently 0 members watching this topic

Top