Employee Observations and HIPAA - Page 2

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  1. Guide
    Mar 9, '12 by
    Wow. Just wow. Bravo, upper management for this brilliant idea, bravo.
  2. Guide
    Mar 9, '12 by
    I agree with PPs. There is an analagous situation -- in the OR, if an equipment rep or other non-clinician is going to be present to assist with the procedure, the patient HAS to be informed of it as part of the informed consent process. There are some HIPAA loopholes - having to do with information used in the general course of business/operations. But I am sure that this IS NOT the intent. This is unbelievably intrusive. I cannot imagine that any patient or family would permit it.

    Can you imagine what would happen if the local news got wind of this? Might just be worth exploring that avenue.
    GrnTea, Esme12, and nguyency77 like this.
  3. Mar 9, '12 by
    No. The patient or their proxy has to give permission.
  4. Mar 9, '12 by
    Totally not appropriate. I love how they're there to observe whether you guys are providing "customer service."
    What is this, Comcast?
    tokmom and merlee like this.
  5. Apr 27, '12 by
    If they respect the confidentiality then there is no HIPAA violation. But, I believe it is a violation of the patient's privacy.
  6. Apr 30, '12 by
    The "confidentiality agreement" is a non-sequiter: every employee signs one, but the legal finding is that unless one is directly involved in delivering care, one does not have the right to general access. Trying to say that BA interns should have free access is no different than agreeing to allow nursing students to look at any available chart in EMR (this has been determined to be illegal).

    Sorry, its a no-go. Admn. can probably try to weasel around it, but I would drop an anonymous dime: How To File a Complaint
    Even if their framework is deemed "legal", this will make them duck for a bit.Click image for larger version.  Name: protects-your-manhole.jpg  Views: 51  Size: 49.9 KB  ID: 10694
  7. Apr 30, '12 by
    Why do you have a manhole protector thing in your tagline? 0o
  8. May 1, '12 by
    Quote from wildlaurelrn
    I say it's a HIPAA violation, but my manager says it's not because the interns sign confidentiality agreements...but they're still not directly involved in patient care and don't need to be in the room to evaluate customer service necessarily. It'd be different if they were a nurse or medical professional there to ensure competency (e.g., when we're checked off on things like portacath access or NG tube placements), but this has nothing to do with actual patient care.
    So, if I wanna go home and disclose patient so-and-so's medical information to my friends and family, it's all good as long as I get them to sign a confidentiality agreement?
  9. May 1, '12 by
    Quote from Ruas61
    Why do you have a manhole protector thing in your tagline? 0o
    Because a complaint to the Fed will cause legal to draw their drawers up tightly to avoid a very public Federal buggering.

    Its not part of my tag, just a pic at the end of the post.