Did a nurse just violate hipaa?

[mclovin]

Is it a hipaa violation if a nurse provides a xerox copy of an ekg done from the emergency dept. to a patients spouse, noting that all patient identifiers were removed?

[Pierrette]

Is it a hipaa violation if a nurse provides a xerox copy of an ekg done from the emergency dept. to a patients spouse, noting that all patient identifiers were removed?

Removing the patient identifiers would have no effect on whether or not a violation was committed.

This exact scenario is discussed at

http://www.hhs.gov/hipaafaq/notice/488.html

"Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule permit a doctor to discuss a patient’s health status, treatment, or payment arrangements with the patient’s family and friends?

Answer:

Yes. The HIPAA Privacy Rule at 45 CFR 164.510(b) specifically permits covered entities to share information that is directly relevant to the involvement of a spouse, family members, friends, or other persons identified by a patient, in the patient’s care or payment for health care. If the patient is present, or is otherwise available prior to the disclosure, and has the capacity to make health care decisions, the covered entity may discuss this information with the family and these other persons if the patient agrees or, when given the opportunity, does not object. The covered entity may also share relevant information with the family and these other persons if it can reasonably infer, based on professional judgment, that the patient does not object.

The covered entity may also share relevant information with the family and these other persons if it can reasonably infer, based on professional judgment, that the patient does not object."

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Apologize for my earlier comment - did sound very mean spirited now I look back and realize I wasn't getting the right gist of the post.

[JBudd, MSN]

I was going to answer the patient has to give permission, but the above reference beat me to it!

I think the wife should have asked the cardiologist to come to the hospital if she wanted a second opinion. Our cardiologists hate xeroxed copies anyway, they say they aren't clear enough.

Another problem we had with sending EKGs into the community without any controls on it, is that a GP who cannot read them well just went by the printout interpretations on the top (that aren't necessarily accurate, and in the case really wasn't) and changed a patient's medication regimin wrongly.