HIPAA violation - Page 2

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  1. Aug 25, '11 by
    Bee are you in Home health? Years ago the DON of a company I worked for asked if I would get some extra nurses notes signed by a patient who has severe dementia. This lady would have signed anything and there were no family members in the home. I could not believe that I was asked to do this and just ignored the request. The following week the DON asked me if I had gotten the extra notes signed and I said , 'no'. Another nurse in the room said she was seeing the patient that week and would get some signed. I resigned that day and notified DHH. They said they would not investigate because I left the agency! What a joke!
  2. Aug 25, '11 by
    So a little more stuff

    I met with my former boss's supervisor (I will call him Bill) , my new supervisor and HR rep today. Several other nurses and I believe that "Bill" was involved in the coverup of forged documents several months ago and that he is retaliating against me because he feels he can intimidate me.

    "Bill" said that he had received a complaint from DPH that I had violated HIPAA by sending them patient records which had patient identifying information on them. I replied that I had removed all identifying patient information and asked to see the complaint, as "Bill" was holding several papers in his hands and looking at them occasionally. He replied "Oh, these? (referring to the papers in his hands) These don't have anything to do with this." It sure seemed like they were related to the matter. I think he probably planned it to appear that way. When I asked to see the complaint, he really started to squirm. I asked how he received the complaint and he said that he got a phone call, but did not have anything in writing. He also said that DPH only received a complaint about my former boss from me and I informed him that this was not the case and that at least 4 other nurses also filed complaints and that 3 of the 4 had received letters from DPH confirming receipt of the complaints and that the reason that the woman from DPH/BON contacted me was that I was the one because I had provided the most information.

    So, that said, my attorney and I believe that this is retaliation for reporting my former boss to DPH and that "Bill" is trying to make me react foolishly and have a reason to terminate me.

    He did not get any sort of reaction from me. I was calm, cool and collected. It was a pleasure to see him squirm when I didn't react. The meeting lasted less than 15 minutes and nothing was mentioned re disciplinary action.

    When I got back in my car, I couldn't keep from laughing at how much of an jerk "Bill" is. As one of you said earlier and I love it "He is really an ignorant cluck!!!!"

    much less scared
  3. Asst. Admin
    Aug 26, '11 by
    Don't you just love lying fools? Pile of papers to intimidate you? Couldn't he at least be a little more creative?

    Sounds like you are on solid ground right now and the "HIPAA complaint" is little more than a smoke screen to try and intimidate you into rescinding your complaint. If the DPH/BON contacts you again, you might just want to advise them of 'Bill's' intimidation tactics which can be construed as witness tampering in some states.
  4. Aug 30, '11 by
    I had not thought of this as witness tampering. HHMMM