Calling out the pts name in the waiting room...HIPAA?

Published

I have a question for you guys. In our ED, when a pt comes in to be seen, they'll fill out a slip and have a seat in our waiting room. The registration person will put them into our system and their name will come up as a new pt. At that time, the triage nurse will see this new pt and call their name into the waiting room for triage. Is this a HIPPA violation? Does anyone do anything different? Thanks in advance for your input!

:nurse:Teresa

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I always wondered about this same thing. I'm curious to know the answer.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

The ER in the hospital I work for has those little pagers that they give out @ restaurants. :p. It beeps and vibrates when its time to be triaged and then beeps and vibrates when its time to be seen.

I believe HIPPA allows for times when the patient can not be truly alone (such as waiting rooms and semi private rooms).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

I worked in a clinic type setting and we also called out the patients name in the waiting area. And as a patient, they have always used names in any doctor's office I have been to. I am curious to know the same. Also, are sign in sheets a HIPPA violation? I have been to doctor's offices where you have to sign in your full name with the doctor you are seeing, and they don't cover up the previous names. Where I work now in a hospital, we have a visitors log with patients names in it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.
The Privacy Rules require physicians to use appropriate administrative, technical, and security safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information — including oral communications. This means that physicians must use reasonable efforts to have protections in place, but they do not need to make expensive structural changes to "soundproof" their offices. The Department of Health and Human Services addresses this topic in one of its Frequently Asked Questions at http://www.hhs.gov/faq. (This link will take you off the AMA Web site.)

Physicians who would like to learn more about protecting oral communications through use of "sound masking" or "acoustic engineering" tools can review a paper entitled "Oral Communications: Myths and Facts White Paper," one of the "SNIP Work Products" posted on the Web site of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI)/Strategic National Implementation Process (SNIP) at http://www.wedi.org. (This link will take you off the AMA Web site.)

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/hipaahealth-insurance-portability-accountability-act/frequently-asked-questions.shtml

Sign in sheets:

To the extent these activities result in other people learning a patient's name or other information, the disclosure would be considered "incidental" to the physician's treatment of the patient, and therefore acceptable under HIPAA.Physicians should take appropriate precautions to limit the amount of information that might be incidentally disclosed in this manner. For example, physicians should not ask patients to list "reason for visit" on a sign-in sheet. With respect to placing charts outside of an examination room or the patient's hospital room while the patient is waiting to see the physician, the physician should take precautions such as turning the front of the chart towards the wall so others do not have the opportunity to read the front page while walking past the room.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In our doctors office we do call pts name to come back or call to window to pay copay. When they sign in, they just put their names on the sign in sheet. When my son went to the ENT, his office was so unprofessional. They called out the copay or told people their insurance had laped all kinds of personal information.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

Interesting... thanks for the information. I remember in college, at the health center, the sign in sheets requested "reason for visit" and didn't cover up the previous names. :uhoh3:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC/hospital, home health (VNA).

By calling out a name - you are not sharing any personal protected health information. So, IMO I think that the answer is no. Now once you are examining a patient and gathering that info...that is a different story- that's where the privacy needs to come into play.:twocents:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER.

If they brought their face with them to the waiting room, calling out the name seems kind of anticlimactic.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your replies! Crux1024, your links are very helpful and answered my questions clearly...thank you.

Teresa

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

When I go to get a patient from the lobby, I call their first name only.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

No, your just saying the first name. Your not say, "Jane Doe; here to check your genital warts, your exam room is ready"...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion