doctor's office accessing of scripts

Nurses HIPAA

Published

right about now I am ripshoot (george carlinism)....went for a work physical at a doctor's office that I have no prior relationship with and will have no further relationship with, and the MA looks at the screen and says "so, you take x and y meds....." I ask her how she knows this, since I didn't give permission nor a list, and she says if you use insurance to pay for it, we can see it......WITHOUT MY FREAKING CONSENT....! I got copies of the consents i signed, on the way out of the office, don't see it anywhere!!!!!....This seems like a hipaa violation to me, they had no need, hence no right. I am feeling ...angry, hurt, humiliated, stupid.......this on top of no steady job at the moment......really great freaking day I have had.....So, so much for privacy....

Specializes in Med-Surg.
reread, a one time visit for a particular service. no meds involved. Portability for MY benefit, not my loss. Small town, could have cost me the job.....

Aha! So there it is. You DID have something to hide, that could have cost you a job. Therein lies all this anger. If portability would be for your loss, not your benefit, then there was indeed something to hide. If you would be willing to walk out of the office to hide it, then it is probably something you would not have been hired for anyways.

I'm pretty sure if there was nothing in your record that could cost you said job, you would not have your panties in such a bunch.

But since you keep referring to your OP...the meds you take ARE relevant to a physical, as others have said many times. Doesn't matter if this new MA was going to be prescribing. When you do a H&P or admission of a new patient, do you take a look at what they take, or do you rely on them to tell you everything? On that note, how many times have your patients on admission forgotten to mention some meds?

I get your basic point. Big brother is everywhere.

In a clinic I wrote about, at intake, using an 'etch a sketch' type thing to give my history, I touched the wrong box, for alcohol intake. When I got my online version? It said I drink '5-7' drinks, 5-7 days per week, rather than the '1-2' drinks, 1-3 days per week? Also, there were a few other problems, such as a lab report for a test I did NOT receive. I didn't have my reading glasses when when I went in there, since I had no idea such technology existed. They sent me a corrected version, via email- but the original was already in cyper space, and I'm sure it still IS.

reread, a one time visit for a particular service. no meds involved. Portability for MY benefit, not my loss. Small town, could have cost me the job.....

No need to reread, understood it the first time.

I don't think you can have it both ways.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

I dunno, the last couple of times I had a work physical they did not review my meds. They showed me which drugs were tested on the screen and asked if I wanted to declare an RX for any.

They then proceded to assess my physical ability to do the job...you know, bending, reaching, lifting, etc. Checked my vitals, my weight, and sent me on my way.

This is not a comprehensive health screening.

THANK YOU! There is no need for this to have been done! Had nothing to do with capacity to do job. And when did the desire to maintain my privacy, become "I have something to hide that SHOULD have cost me a job"?

I dunno, the last couple of times I had a work physical they did not review my meds. They showed me which drugs were tested on the screen and asked if I wanted to declare an RX for any.

They then proceded to assess my physical ability to do the job...you know, bending, reaching, lifting, etc. Checked my vitals, my weight, and sent me on my way.

This is not a comprehensive health screening.

You gave permission to whomever prescribed them in the first place to share them with other healthcare providers in their network. There may be business relationships where you can't see them. You may have forgotten what other providers through the years had that info, and you signed for them to put it in their networks. I'm not thinking you can show that you have been damaged by this (can you? in what way?), so why keep ruminating over it?

You gave permission to whomever prescribed them in the first place to share them with other healthcare providers in their network. There may be business relationships where you can't see them. You may have forgotten what other providers through the years had that info, and you signed for them to put it in their networks. I'm not thinking you can show that you have been damaged by this (can you? in what way?), so why keep ruminating over it?

Maybe because our privacy rights have been stripped to the bone, and the system is out of control, partly to blame on the masses that don't speak up- or have a clue what's going on?

You (the collective you) think this information sharing is invasive now?

What do you think is going to happen if/when the US healthcare system becomes 'single payor' or 'government run' like it is in countries with socialized medicine?

I don't know what would happen in the US if healthcare became "government run". I'm Swedish and we have universal health care. If a patient comes to my hospital I can only access the charts written in my hospital. If I feel a need to read the information from other hospitals or clinics I have to ask the patients permission. If they grant permission I check a box and the program allows me to access all charts. The only exception from this rule is an unconscious/altered patient that seeks care in the emergency department. We then operate under the assumption that the patient would want the best care possible/have their lives saved and we read all information on that patient.

precisely!!!!!!! and I was NOT asked!

I don't know what would happen in the US if healthcare became "government run". I'm Swedish and we have universal health care. If a patient comes to my hospital I can only access the charts written in my hospital. If I feel a need to read the information from other hospitals or clinics I have to ask the patients permission. If they grant permission I check a box and the program allows me to access all charts. The only exception from this rule is an unconscious/altered patient that seeks care in the emergency department. We then operate under the assumption that the patient would want the best care possible/have their lives saved and we read all information on that patient.

No! NO relationships between docs. Different states, different hospitals. I hadn't given this over much thought for quite awhile, someone else brought it back up.

You gave permission to whomever prescribed them in the first place to share them with other healthcare providers in their network. There may be business relationships where you can't see them. You may have forgotten what other providers through the years had that info, and you signed for them to put it in their networks. I'm not thinking you can show that you have been damaged by this (can you? in what way?), so why keep ruminating over it?
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I don't know of... any reason to justify doing so.

Privacy.

Some of us, myself included, are very private and don't want others knowing our medical history at all. A lot of it has to do with concerns about discrimination.

Specializes in FNP, ONP.
yes, that is the service that they use. Now, why do they (doc's office) have access to my prior hx, without my signed consent in a nonemergent situation? It once was nec to sign consent for this. So, if i want a second, untainted by prior knowledge, second onpinion, I can't get it? beside the point that this office visit entailed NO CARE, no possibility of conflicting prescriptions! No controls of any kind, and totally unrelated to job performance, so, yes, it IS totally the principle of the thing that has me so irritated!

I use this service too. My patients give consent by signing a form called "Consent to treat." If you signed a consent to treat, you gave consent to access these records.

I cannot safely and effectively evaluate or treat a patient if I do not know every single medication someone may be taking, and as evidenced here, I cannot always rely on patients to be forthcoming with this information. Even if you do not realize it, assessing a patient's fitness for duty does require the provider consider medications they might be taking. This is a significant liability concern for the provider. They are being responsible and thorough to check medication fill history and failure to do so could probably be construed as malpractice.

There is no reason you should be ashamed of your own medical history. Good luck to you.

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