I was recently in the ER for a painful Knee. When I first got there I was asked what the problem Was , vital signs were taken and I was aaked to sit I the waiting area. I was then called back to sit in a rapid room with another person. The nurse proceeded to ask personal questions about my other health problems and I then told her what medications I was on.
I was taken to cray and then put in another room with 2 other patients and a mother waiting for her daughter. Then the registrar came and asked me about my insurance , asking me questions that Medicare asked. I felt very uncomfortable, answering all these questions in front if these woman. I worked ER and we never asked these questions in front of anyone. I felt that this personal information is no other persons business.
I need another opinion. Yes it was. The interviewer represented the health care institution and was broadcasting personal health information to other patients without consent of the patient whose information was being revealed.
I write a blog and work at the local hospital. My blog was on addiction and carried no names, dates, or personal identifiers. I was purposefully vague. The hospital fired me anyway. Love your resources! I appreciate your details and depth writing style and all your eye cache points was so awesome.
Reminded me of TurboTax — it pulls everything forward, then you still have to validate every item. Our helping hand nurse service it provides many types of service. We have staff members who are home health aides, physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical social workers, and skilled nurses and many more.
I would love to begin a[n] casual and educational Blog However, our Ethics Code, as well as the opinion s of various Ethicists, are often contradictory Leaving me feeling "Stuck," and not writing.
Any advice, references or personal experiences that anyone could relate? Most Sincerely, David J. Thanks for this for the article, I used some of the info here on my recent blog - I hope that's okay! A Covered Entity is a health care provider, a health plan, or a healthcare clearinghouse that, in its normal activities, creates, maintains, or transmits PHI.
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Join Now Login Search form Search. Facebook page. Twitter page. Youtube page. My mother has been in the hospital for 3 weeks. For the most part she has been unresponsive. How can I collect her medical records if she is unable to give consent? It also sounds like she did not complete a durable power of attorney for healthcare form.
If no person is the durable power of attorney for healthcare and a person is unable to make medical decisions, most states have some kind of process for allowing the next of kin to make necessary medical decisions. So healthcare providers would be able to disclose at least some medical information to family, especially that which is necessary to make the needed medical decisions.
Of course, if there are several close family members involved or wanting to be involved, things can get complicated. I recently facilitated placing my 91 yr old uncle with NO previous hx of dementia or decline in health, in a rehab facility following an acute episode of delirium secondary to kidney nephrosis, uremic toxicity.
Once there, because he had no advance directives, the facility excluded me from participating in his care. I am his only local relative, the only other relative being my mother his sister and his durable POA, she has also been excluded.
His doctor there refuses to speak with us, even though my uncle couldnt give consent either way. His delium is starting to clear but he still thinks someone is trying to kill him, and that he is already dead, that all his friends have died, that someone has taken all his money, etc. He told me yesterday he is afraid of the place and the people there. The facility had him sign a DNR two days ago, informed me after the fact. I have challenged the DNR, because i do not believe he has capacity, and I fear he was coerced.
The facility assured me he read and understood what he was signing, but he didnt even have his glasses, and doesnt read much anymore because a stroke 20 yrs ago made it difficult to always comprehend what he was reading.
Am I correct to be concerned about him initiating DNR at this time? He has significant financial resources. Hm, this sounds like a sticky situation.
Some possible ways to proceed: — Put your concerns regarding his capacity to make these decisions in writing. Explain why you are concerned that he may not have capacity to oversee his health at this time or to engage in advance care planning.
Spell out your reasoning and also spell out that his family has previously overseen his care. Ask for them to meet with your family to discuss a better way forward.
There should be one in every state. You basically need to be polite but persistent. Ask to talk to supervisors and management. This article is very interesting. I do have a question: If a wife requests an eyeglass prescription for her husband, is this allowed to be given without his permission? I relate it to a relative picking up a medical Rx at the drug store, which is allowed??? My father has passed away and my sister was the executor of the estate.
My mother although recently has passed away was on a type of medication which I and many others would consider dangerous for the elderly with dementia. I only found out about this medication by accident , because her medication dispenser was out on the counter top and the home health aide decided to be forthright with me. My question: Can my brother actually leave us off and is it legal? Do I not have any rights to investigate why she was prescribed this dangerous medication?
Sorry to hear of your situation. I believe things may be slightly different once a person is deceased. You may also want to consult with an experienced attorney familiar with the relevant state laws.
I work at a medical clinic and I have family members that are patients, all of them signed a release of information form stating that I could assist in their care and have access to their EMR. Two years ago I asked my manager at the time if an ROI is signed and on file, is it legal for me to room them, give vaccines to them, send messages to the provider for them etc. My manager contacted our compliance department and was told yes as long as the family member signed and wanted me involved then it was not a problem.
Approximately 3 months ago I was given a promotion and am now the manager of one of our locations. I pulled up his chart and looked and informed him that yes the results were in, however, the provider had not reviewed them yet and I would send her a message stating that he was inquiring about the results and to please contact him with those results. I explained to them that 2 years ago I was told I could do this as long as I had permission and written consent from the family member to do so.
I then told them that if this was the case then they should have told me that at the time of the promotion and I would not have done so. I have never been in any trouble and I strive to be an exemplary employee, my family is upset and now wants to transfer care due to this. My question is; Do I have a right to access their chart and send messages to providers with written consent from the patient?
I am not sure how most organizations would handle someone in your position, who has family that has signed releases and wants your involvement with their medical information. For some abnormal results, providers want to bring the patient into the office to disclose them and discuss them. My sister is very upset as she has become a private person.
I feel she is using her own personal feelings than acting to what my mother would want to share to her sisters their children and friends. Now she is informing me that I have no right to do this. She says I can only talk generalities. Can she do this? You may want to discuss this with her, so that expectations can be more clear next time around. They would be more familiar with the laws and conventions in your area, and may also have office policies related to this.
Eg only none of this may be true : a physician uses the same emr system that their pediatrician for their daughter 10 yo uses. However, the parent physician accessed the EMR record of the daughter to obtain information to submit to a school for registration and the due date was the next morning. The physician parent obtained consent from the other parent married to the physician parent and the child prior to access and then obtained their immunization and last physical.
But you could check the HHS. Many larger organizations DO have policies related to how employees are allowed to use their EMR access to view their own health records or those of family. One thing that could be tried would be to ask the compliance officer to point to the section of the HIPAA code relevant to this alleged violation. If a family member signed a Hippa release for me to receive her medical information from a provider, am I allowed to give that information to a subsequent healthcare provider without additional consent by the family member?
Note that I am not an attorney. My understanding is that HIPAA does not prevent you from providing medical information or other information to a provider, because you are not a covered entity.
Of course, there may be state laws that are applicable, regarding what you can disclose, and you might certainly upset a family member by disclosing information without their permission. Also, if your family member made you durable power of attorney for healthcare and your authority is effective, you have the standing to request that a health provider send medical information to another provider.
But if you only have a HIPAA release, you may not be able to request that one medical provider release information to another provider. My daughter was in California I brought her back to NJ. Is there any way I can find out what what medications she is being prescribed?
She is psychotic. Sorry to hear of your situation, it must be very hard to have a family member get ed and held involuntarily for psychiatric reasons. I would recommend looking for an online support group for families dealing with mental illness. This is probably a common issue that comes up and there must be many other parents who have already looked into this. A nurse and catching up on progress notes with my colleagues in the same room. She then laughingly said to them Mr so and so dementia is getting the best of him.
Please, thanks. My brother has a court appointed medical guardian who will not keep me updated on his condition per a court order, other to say he is doing ok. He has progressive frontal lobe dimentica which is fatal.
Can the memory care facility provide me with any general information to his well being without violating HIPA laws? If I have my son under my Heath insurance 25 and I have outstanding balance can the healthcare tell him my balance n refused service on him. Privacy and disclosures as relates to health insurance is beyond my knowledge. I was hospitalized for depression and was seeking help for suicidal thoughts and my spouse and I got into a argument at the hospital about what we thought was the correct care I needed.
She was asked to leave and she left but was verbally loud as she was leaving. The hospital reported that my daughter was being dragged out of the hospital and a abuse claim was reported. Upon my discharge CPS came to my home and had full knowledge of all my medical information and everything I spoke to my doctors about.
My question is was my rights violated under hippa laws since the claim to CPS was my spouse was being rough with my daughter as they were exiting the hospital and not my mental health in question or my parenting ability? Sorry that this has happened to you, it does sound upsetting. I have not researched the circumstances under which a hospital might disclose or be required to disclose information to a social services agency such as CPS.
My biggest concern is that our mother died from cancer in her 70s; my sister is in her 70s; I will be in my 70s in a few short years. So to find out, your sister would need to agree to tell you. In that case, you may need to reconsider your approach to discussing this with her.
Many books on communication offer helpful suggestions; I like Difficult Conversations in particular. My brother has placed our mother in a Memory Care facility but will not disclose the name or location.
I just want to know if she is a resident or not. As her daughter am I entitled to that information? You could try contacting your local Area Agency on Aging to see if they know more about this type of situation. For help resolving sibling issues related to aging parents, you could try consulting with a geriatric care manager or elder mediator.
This would be another good issue to raise with the Long Term Care Ombudsman in your area, because — at least in California — isolating an older adult may be considered a form of elder abuse.
I was an in-home caregiver for a local company. I had various clients, a few of them are spouses of well known business people in my area.
I no longer work for the company, but sometimes will see my former clients in town. One came up to hug me and say hello, but a friend from church saw this and spread around church that must of been one of my former clients. Then they started to say things about what the client looked like, so they thought they knew what her issues were, so they come to me looking for answers and verification of their thoughts.
I keep telling them it is a breach of privacy Hipaa and just general manners regarding privacy for me to be discussing this so I refuse to answer anything.
They say I am just hiding behind Hipaa. Does their knowledge of them seeing me with her put me in any breech? The same client is a personal friend of my dentist. He too might ask if I was her caregiver, in general talk as I have been seen in the waiting room with her just last month.
Since they too have to comply under Hipaa, I am guessing they know better to ask, but this is a small town, and sometimes this sort of thing comes up in innocent conversations.
Thanks for any suggestions, I know you can not give legal advice. I am not sure you even need to bring up HIPAA…people might understand more if you just state it as part of your personal and professional code of conduct.
I have an employment Mediation and I was a nursing Supervisor. I completed nursing supervisor visits and nursing assessment. We have 70 client 36 HHA and 12 nurses that I supervised. I worked from monthly list and we knew who needed a timely 62 day visit.
MY question is that this mediation is done with lawyers for both side and the mediator. I need to use those list that have the clients,staff and nursing employees. Can I use the client list if I no longer work there and is it allowed to give this information. When the cases were open the client signed a release for the agency to receive all medical,billing and other information. My understanding is that as employees of covered entity, we are only supposed to access that protected information held by the entity while doing our work.
So if you are no longer employed as a nursing supervisor with the agency, I would think you are not allowed to keep the list, much less use it for other purposes. But that is just my guess. Be sure to look into this further. I live in MN. Are adult parents age 75 permitted to request medical record information medical diagnosis, treatment and prescriptions, etc for their deceased adult children age 55 if there is no surviving spouse?
Also see this comment above. My niece went into the ER for attempted suicide on Saturday. I tried seeing her multiple times in the night with a different excuse from nurses each time. I basically went home with nothing and left a note that they got to her.
She called me and I got to talk to her briefly. She had no idea what was going on and basically had been left to sit in an ER room for 7 hours. The next day she got transferred to another hospital. I have been calling them constantly to at least find out where and maybe what is going on with her and they are refusing any information. But if I am not, are they required to keep that information? Is this different when you get taken in VIA ambulance?
Do you still sign papers? My personal experience almost entirely related to older adults who may have lost capacity due to dementia or serious illness. There are probably different conventions in how HIPAA is interpreted and applied, when it comes to suicide attempts in younger adults.
Also, the laws related to involuntary hospitalizations are state-specific, and may be playing a role in this. I would recommend looking for a support group or non-profit supporting family members of people who have attempted suicide.
My ex-wife is always talking about clients personal information from where they live to who they are, to what they got.
Who do I need to talk to, to put a stop to her working in the medical field period? Probably the best thing to do would be to talk to her employer, as they would be able to determine if her activities are in breach of their office policies or regulations, or of HIPAA.
Kernisan to a similar question. I work at a hospital and went into my sons records to get a percentage of a eczema cream that we use because the Dr. Couldnt find it in my records. Now my job may want to fire me be a cause of this. The Dr. Is standing with me but do I have a chance. Hi Katherine. I understand your concern in this current climate of privacy awareness. In my experience, privacy breaches are taken seriously by hospitals, and the best course of action is often to be honest about your intentions and demonstrate a commitment to avoid breaches in the future.
I would hope that your employer would take an educational rather than punitive stance, especially if you have a good job performance record. He is in a memory care facility in Maryland. She is currently working out of the country for an unspecified period of time.
In the event she were unavailable, I am authorized to act and step in her place. Additionally, my sister and I have a strained relationship, and only communicate when needed. Thank you for your help. Hi Dal. It can save time in an emergency to be able to produce such important paperwork. I hope you never need to use it. I had a discussion with her the day before about putting him in a home closer to me so I can assist in his care.
It appeared that she did not like the idea and wants to hang on to that money from the government she would be losing. The M. This issue never came up in all the 30 years he has been sick. In fact I still was able to talk to his M. D a couple of weeks ago. They always would inform my ex and me when he was sick in the hospita. No one has legal guardian ship or power of attorney.
We just never a problem before. Hi Suong and sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having. Most of the issues with consent and capacity that I work with are in older adults who have had changes in cognition due to dementia.
Can a covered entity sign my name on a records release in order to get outside medical records on me and be held accountable for this? The information they requested when signing my name to get it was probably information they could have legally received with out my consent, but I was told that I signed the consent forms in person in the release of information office, when I did not sign any of them.
If I am understanding you correctly, a healthcare provider signed your name on a release form to get some health information? In this case, you would have no choice but to terminate the employee and involve law enforcement. Usually, reporting for a level 3 HIPAA violation also requires the involvement of legal counsel in order to protect your organization.
Although a rare type of breach, these happen. If you mail or fax the complaint, be sure to send it to the appropriate OCR regional office based on where the alleged violation took place. The penalties for HIPAA violations by employees can be severe, especially those involving the theft of protected health information. There is no private cause of action allowed to an individual to sue for a violation of the federal HIPAA or any of its regulations.
However, you may have a right to sue based on state law. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Essay Can I talk about patient without saying their name? Ben Davis May 13, Can I talk about patient without saying their name? Can a civilian violate Hipaa?
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