New grad and HIPAA question

Nurses General Nursing

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As with every floor, patients family members or friends call to find out how their family member is doing. Of course I know HIPAA laws prevent me from divulging specific information without consent but how do you respond when a family member calls and asks generally how their family member is doing? I work on a floor with a large dementia population so it's not like I can just transfer the call to the patients room to have them give the update. How have some of you dealt with this situation? Or what would your advice be to answering this question without breaking HIPAA laws?

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Does your facility use signed consents for 2 way communication? The easiest way I found to deal with it is ask if there is a consent on file and then check to verify.

P.S. Love that you actually spelled HIPAA correctly. :)

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I'm not sure I'll have to look into that! I know patients and families can set up HIPAA passwords that the nurse can ask for when someone calls. I just feel awkward when I answer the phone caught off guard by a family member (we use facility provided "cellphones" during our shifts meant for in hospital use only but sometimes the numbers get passed on to family members) and they ask "how's my mom doing today?" I don't want to come off rude but is it a violation by simply stating they had a good day, ate their whole lunch yada yada? General statements that aren't necessarily giving out any diagnostic or result specific information?

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Specializes in ER.

Cheerfully acknowledge that the pt is there and being well cared for. Let them know that Federal laws prevent you giving out details regarding their condition, but that the pt is 'doing well'. If the pt isn't doing well, suggest that they come visit, or contact whomever is a frequent visitor for more information. If the pt is alert, transfer the call to the pt.

Make sure you are sympathetic and concerned, without violating HIPAA. Be kind and understanding. Try not to let them rattle on too much regarding their own problems, but if you can glean more information regarding the pt, it might be useful and interesting.

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Great! Thank you for your response!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

You're by no means prohibited from giving information to family as a flat rule, you do need the patient's permission or permission of the patient's decision maker which usually isn't that hard to do. HIPAA doesn't say you can't give out information, it just tells you what you need to do before giving out information.

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

Thank you for spelling HIPAA correctly throughout this whole thread, everyone! :)

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

We have a password system, In order for us to give out information, pt (or POA for AMS) has to have a password. We also ask that one family member be the "go-to" person. I hate when 5 siblings call about mama. We also have phones in the room, so that resolves a lot of issues.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
You're by no means prohibited from giving information to family as a flat rule, you do need the patient's permission or permission of the patient's decision maker which usually isn't that hard to do. HIPAA doesn't say you can't give out information, it just tells you what you need to do before giving out information.

I guess this depends on where you are working. In psychiatry if the caller asks we don't even disclose whether someone is on the unit without consent.

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I guess this depends on where you are working. In psychiatry if the caller asks we don't even disclose whether someone is on the unit without consent.

Bingo.

Acknowledging even that someone is an inpatient is providing information that the general public does not know, so....TMI.

When I worked the floor, we had to be SO careful about telephone info.....it wasn't an uncommon thing to have a reporter call, claiming to be a relative, to get 'the scoop' on a public figure/celebrity in our care. If I didn't RECOGNIZE with 100% certainty, by voice, who I was speaking with (because I had been speaking to them often enough to KNOW the voice without a doubt), they got nothing from me. And *I* had never been called out for leaking info to the press :D

Other than knowing a family member by voice, passwords are GREAT :)

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I know psych is a different category in terms of HIPAA, but I've read that on a "regular" unit (for lack of a better term) it isn't a violation to acknowledge that someone is a patient on the floor. Giving more information than that I can understand being a violation. Not sure if that's true or not now but just what I've heard. Thankfully I've never had someone call asking if so and so was a patient so I haven't had to deal with this issue.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

Even acknowledging that the patient is there is a violation of HIPAA, regular floor or psych. You never know who is calling, just because he or she says who he/she is. All you can say is you can't give information to anyone about a patient (and they should know the system to get information, if they are allowed to get it).

As far as I know, the difference between HIPAA on psych vs. other floors is that the penalties for violating it are bigger on psych.

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