Hipaa violation and interview

Nurses HIPAA

Published

You are reading page 2 of Hipaa violation and interview

Edubs1023

13 Posts

Thank you for your response. To answer your question, I am an RN. If you called me up for let's say your strep results I could give them to you assuming I am directly involved in your care. I think what my facility is going to say and I'm just guessing here is that although the patient (my family member) gave me direct permission to access the chart, it's still considered unauthorized Access because this is not one of my patients. that is the only explanation I can think of. At the time I was not thinking of this but I guess hindsight is 20/20. Just hoping its not a career ender for me.

brattygrl

51 Posts

Specializes in Peds critical care.

I'm sorry you are going through this. Good luck with everything.

Edubs1023

13 Posts

Thanks very much. Your support is appreciated.

Edubs1023

13 Posts

Just an update, they put off my Hipaa interview which was scheduled for tomorrow to a later date because I am on vacation this week. Date at present is unknown. Thank you all for your advice

Laurie52

218 Posts

Specializes in SICU/CVICU.
This is the problem I have with employer interpretation of HIPAA. HIPAA was designed to protect patient information from getting into the wrong hands as well as offer guidelines to insure health information is shared with those who need it. Most hospitals have their own HIPAA policies that go way beyond the original intent. For instance, in this case, no one received this patients records that shouldn't have them. The patient asked, the patient was aware that the family member would indeed see his/her information while relaying to them. The information wasn't leaked to the media, wasn't accidently faxed to his boss or his nosey neighbors!! No one had access to his records that shouldn't have!

I was written up several years ago for looking up my minor child's strep screen results. I took my child to the pcp on Thursday, was given a Rx for an antibiotic with the instructions not to start unless the strep screen came back positive. On Friday the results weren't back to my pcp,..on Sunday I remembered that the pcp's office is closed on Monday,..so it would be Tuesday at the minimum before I got the results. I was at work and looked them up. When I was written up I was told that hospital policy required I go through Med Records "they would need to verify that I am indeed the childs Mother and that I have legal custody of said child." Interestingly enough later, when I went to Med records, I asked for the records, they gave them to me. No check of an ID, no request for legal documentation etc. This was in NO WAY a HIPAA violation. I feel bad for the OP,....hope you can work this out.

Just curious,...OP if I called you at work to ask about my own strep screen from yesterday, would it be within your job description to look it up for me?

The reason the employers place these restrictions on info is because while you can adequately interpret the info not everyone who is employed by the hospital can do so. Many people have access to medical records that do not have a medical background. As far as the OP situation is concerned, if the scan results were abnormal, did she have the knowledge necessary to adequately explain the implications of the results?

Wrench Party

823 Posts

Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

I'm glad many facilities are now providing patients (and their families) access to their own medical records and tests via a separate system. It helps prevent this kind of unintended HIPAA violation.

delphine22

306 Posts

Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.

My facility has tiers for unauthorized access of records. I don't recall them exactly but the punishment varies whether it was intentional or unintentional, benign or malicious intent, a family member, the associate him/herself or a VIP/fellow associate. The strictest penalties are for a VIP or fellow associate, because that is assumed to be malicious intent (and without the person's permission).

Specializes in Cardiac, ER.
The reason the employers place these restrictions on info is because while you can adequately interpret the info not everyone who is employed by the hospital can do so. Many people have access to medical records that do not have a medical background. As far as the OP situation is concerned, if the scan results were abnormal, did she have the knowledge necessary to adequately explain the implications of the results?

While I agree with the logic behind this,...the hospital didn't say I couldn't have my daughters test results,...they just said I had to go upstairs and pick them up from a person in Med Records who did not interpret the results. I work ED,...while I would never give test results to a pt in the ED before the doctor,..I am allowed to give results when patients call the next day. Again, the interpretation or lack thereof has nothing to do with HIPAA.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

Will keep you in my thoughts. Later date for the meeting means more time to pray. Hope this turns out in your favor.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

9 Articles; 4,800 Posts

HIPAA violation perhaps--depending on your company policy. Privacy violation--again, depends.

Looking at this from a different perspective, if Auntie is beyond nervous to begin with over the results of a CAT scan, think about how you would have handled it if there was say a tumor, or a bleed or some other critical result. You certainly can not tell Auntie that over the phone. You can't then give medical direction as to what to do. Things like this fall through the cracks all the time--Subdurals and the patient went home. Not getting critical results. You would be left holding the bag. And Auntie would be left with critical results, and no clue what to do next and in no emotional state to do a thing.

Critically thinking forward, bad news of magnitude needs to be given to the patient with a couple of disciplines. With options and an appointment with a specialist.

In other words, if you can be the nurse who doesn't have to break devastating news to a patient--family or not, I would aspire to be that nurse. If you are the bearer of bad news, get a couple of others involved--your charge nurse can direct you accordingly.

Use your resources.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Ruby Vee, BSN

17 Articles; 14,030 Posts

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Hello all

i am having an issue with my current employer. I Had checked a patient record (which happened to be a family member who asked me to look at catscan results) at the time I felt a bit uneasy about it, but said family member was so worried and upset about not knowing results, I looked it up anyway. ( I 100% understand now that it was wrong). In any event, it was flagged in the system that I have no business relationship to this particular chart. They asked for an exPlaination which I gave via writing,I told the absolute truth, and family member stated to give them telephone number and family member would be willing to go in and attest that he/she indeed authoriZed me to look. Now I have a hipaa interview where I will be bringing my union rep. I am so scared of termination. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance all .

I'm amazed that anyone who works in a hospital would NOT know how serious a matter this is. I've had colleagues -- good, solid nurses with nary a disciplinary problem among them -- fired over this issue. Why could you not call the family member's physician to expedite hearing the results? Or advise the family member to do so? Thank you for posting about this issue so that others who might be taking their facility's HIPAA policies a bit less than seriously can learn from your troubles.

+ Add a Comment