Would you consider a company car a HIPAA violation

[HHN2472]

I have never really thought about it until today when I had a SOC and the patient's family told me that the patient was embarrassed and afraid the neighbors would start asking questions with my car out in the driveway (which has the company logo on it). This is the first time in all my home health adventures that I have heard this one.

[caliotter3]

I worked for an agency, where nurses, self included, had problems being accosted going to patient homes. Driving a car with the logo on it would have made things that much worse. Nurse safety is just as important as patient confidentiality. I am surprised they don't realize this.

[Sam J.]

And lots of agency/home health/hospice nurses have been robbed, by people looking for drugs. What a stupid way to advertise, aside from the privacy violation of the clients- and that violation may also lead criminals to 'case' those houses, either for possible drugs, or to be alerted that possibly elderly or helpless people live in those houses, that are targets to be robbed, or worse.

[84RN]

I don't think it would be a HIPAA violation, unless letting people know that someone in a particular house having a home health nurse visit is considered "protected health information."

But I do agree with the other posters that it's a bad idea overall, separately from HIPAA. I know the company loves the advertisement, but it's not worth the risk to the patients and nurses.

[Emergent, RN]

Something sad about living in a society where people's neighbors don't know about them. We're all so disconnected from one another. We want to hide our troubles from our neighbors, instead of reaching out.

That said, I agree with the above. It can make the patient a target, or reveal something they want to keep private.

[Metody]

Something sad about living in a society where people's neighbors don't know about them. We're all so disconnected from one another. We want to hide our troubles from our neighbors, instead of reaching out.

That said, I agree with the above. It can make the patient a target, or reveal something they want to keep private.

If the patient doesn't even want neighbors knowing they receive care, I bet they think our disconnected and private society is just fine, and don't want to reach out to the neighbors for help.

I don't know if it rises to the level of a HIPAA violation, but I can sympathize with them. That said, I would be very cautious about parking some distance away and walking to their home, since that could make you a target.

[NayRN]

When I did my home health rotation the nurse I rounded with didn't even wear scrubs for safety reasons. In some of the neighborhoods he visited home health personnel wearing scrubs had been robbed at gunpoint by people looking for drugs. Logo on the car would be just as bad, HIPAA violation aside.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I never really thought about it either ... but I can easily imagine circumstances in which a patient would not want their neighbors to know about the services they are receiving. And I would think they would have a right to request that your company's advertisement NOT be sitting in their driveway.

Of course ... I am not an attorney ... but if I were on the jury, I would side with those claiming it was a HIPAA violation.

[NurseCard, ADN]

You know, I work in some pretty bad neighborhoods and I have not had anyone accost me. Of course, I've only been doing this for almost six months now, plus the bad neighborhoods in the city I work in are probably equal to, pretty decent neighborhoods in some larger cities.

[MichiganRN13]

I agree with 84RN, the car sitting in the driveway in and of itself would not be a HIPAA violation. If that was the case wouldn't that be true of an ambulance parked there on a call to that home? As long as the person isn't telling the neighbors protected information there shouldn't be a problem.

[toomuchbaloney]

The owner of the company is proud of the nursecars and made quite a play on it at the Nascar races in his community. At that time the cars were painted bright red and decorated to look similar to a Nascar with a big #1 on the door. They were decidedly not discreet.

I have a friend who worked for them and drove one of the vehicles.

She paid a monthly amount to drive one. They provided a fleet card for regular oil changes and maintenance which she was responsible for scheduling and acquiring.

When she hit a pot hole and damaged the car on the job she was responsible for part of the cost. It may have been the deductible or similar, I don't recall, but it was a couple hundred dollars and she wasn't very happy about it.