Good Old HIPAA Violation!

[shodobe]

This is for everyon'e info. recently I got into trouble for a HIPAA violation at my hospital. First major infraction in 31 years! Early part of last month I was doing a case in the OR when we heard that a RT employee had come into the ED in full code. I was already in the ER roster looking up a potential patient for the surgeon and saw the name and looked to see if I knewhim. I know alot of the RT but didn't know him by name. I forgot about it until a few days ago when I was called into the "pricipals" office downstairs, not my Directors' office. I was asked if I had indeed loked and I said yes because I wanted to make sure it wasn't a friend of mine. They told me that there had been quite a number of hits, we use computer nursing, and hey were going to talk with everyone. They also told me there would be disciplinary actions taken , but not termination. I thought I would probably get written up and that would be it. Instead I got a 3 day suspension. The HIPAA czar I talked to had said the rules had gotten much stricter after the first of the year but I didn't expect this. I went into our HIPAA manual and looked up the policies concerning punishments. It went form verbal consuling to written ,all the way up to suspension and termination. They jumped all the way up to final warning and suspension. I don't mind the suspension as much as they might of chaned the policies concerning punishment and did not inservice or inform the employees of such changes. I only think it would be fair on their part to do formal inservices or at least put out memos to the changes. This post is for info for everyone to watch out, "They are watching"!

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Also, imagine having to pay a fine yourself---of many thousands of dollars!

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I know people are looking at the ER rosters all the time where I work and I have never heard of anyone being punished. I don't think it should be happening, but nobody seems to keep track. I had gone to the ER one morning after work for stitches. When I returned to work that night another nurse, who works night shift and was not in the hospital that morning, asked me why I had been in the ER.

I always look at the ER roster, as well as ICU rosters. I don't know how they could stop you, since they can track who opens charts, not who's looking at rosters.

[Dinsey]

After the bridge collapse in Minneapolis in August 2007, several of the Twin Cities hospitals severely punished employees who inappropriately looked at charts and rosters for information on victims. A large group of employees at one of the hospitals was even terminated.

Whether you did it to snoop, or because you were genuinely concerned, it was wrong. The hospital has a lot at stake when employees break laws, so they sometimes act harshly.

These Twin Cities hospitals certainly wanted to make examples of the wrongful employees.

[PICNICRN, BSN, RN]

OUCH! Did you actually go into his chart and snoop or just look at the ER board? I guess I need a HIPPA refresher because I was under the impression that you had to actually access personal info for it to be a violation.

At my hospital any employee is listed in the computer system as VIP or NPI or some acronym I cannot recall at the moment- on the unit pt list in the computer you only see the acrynoym- so if you really wanted to snoop you would have to enter the medical record and leave your "stamp". Kinda deters you from any tempation!

I believe the hospital can be fined like $50 thousand for each time the chart was entered by a "non care provider."

Thanks for sharing your story.

[leosasha]

Odds are, the consequenses meted out were to send a message to all. Too bad it was your name attached to it. And yes, I think an inservice prior to the event was in order. There is an atmosphere of paranoia surrounding the entire HIPPA thing. We live in a country where litigation has become the norm.

[Princess_M83]

If you are getting a patient from the ER and the patient is assigned to you I do not see the problem with looking at their records. If you are directly involved in their care you should have access to the records involved with that admission. You are going to see them when they get to the floor anyway....

The patient was not assigned to the OP, they simply wanted to see if they knew them. VIOLATION OF HIPAA

[Princess_M83]

After the bridge collapse in Minneapolis in August 2007, several of the Twin Cities hospitals severely punished employees who inappropriately looked at charts and rosters for information on victims. A large group of employees at one of the hospitals was even terminated.

Whether you did it to snoop, or because you were genuinely concerned, it was wrong. The hospital has a lot at stake when employees break laws, so they sometimes act harshly.

These Twin Cities hospitals certainly wanted to make examples of the wrongful employees.

Employee at my hospital knew a patient who was in and was HIV pos. This patient worked with their family member. Employee was instructed not to discuss said patient outside of workplace or with anyone not involved in their care. Patient was very worried about this, and consequently found out that employee had discussed diagnosis with someone who happened to be related to the patient. Employee was terminated for this. Clear violation of HIPAA especially after being explicitly told not to speak to anyone. If you know the consequences of your actions and still choose to act, you are responsible for any and all punishments that come your way regardless of policy changes. HR and Directors can always choose to be stricter when it comes to punishments and enforcement of policies, never more lenient than the prescribed course of action. Even if the policy had not changed, they were well within the scope of their discretion to mete out a stricter punishment if the situation warranted it.

[Pat_Pat RN]

These rules are becoming extreme. It's ridiculous if you ask me. I am a relatively new nurse and I might have a patient for a day or two and then never see them again. I never know what happened to them. Did they get better, worse, what kind of complications did they develop. I'll never know, and I'll never have the patients' charts to use as a tool to increase my knowledge of the various blood cancers I deal because I was told that I'm only allowed to look at a patient's file the day that I have them. Ever.

I can't follow any of the patients' because its a HIPAA violation.

So next time a patient asks me "What's going to happen to me? Do people with my disease ever get better?," I can only say, "How should I know?"

I'm glad to see someone else talking with the best interest of the patients in mind.

Enough spanking the OP isn't it? Four pages worth of "you did wrong", even though his original post said, "I did wrong".

[shodobe]

First off, I am a He not a she. A lot of different responses and I must agree with the majority of them. Yes, I did wrong and yes the punishment could have been worse. On the other hand I was expecting less and I would have been satisfied with a day of suspension. We use computerized nursing so it is very easy for everyone to look. I mostly am looking at the hospital to do an adequate inservice on this so it doesn't happen to someone else. There were others that also violated this rule and hopefully they will get the same punishment. This is a good wakeup for all to be very careful where they go and what they might see.

[northshore08]

First off, I am a He not a she.

Sorry for assumptions, but you could have clarified sooner than 4 pages into the posting.

I was expecting less and I would have been satisfied with a day of suspension.

It's not what satisfies you. The hospital has to satisfy the feds.

[lpnflorida, LPN]

Our system recently fired someone who was outside in the smoking area who it was reported they violated HIPPA. They have been an employee in the system for 25 years.

Just goes to show us, we always must be careful of confidentiality.

[Pierrette]

Shodobe,

I'm sorry you got yourself into this. A three-day suspension is tough.

By coincidence, I was looking for something else on our Board of Nursing website when I found this:

"a nurse who violates state or federal law, such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and/or improperly acquires, uses or discloses confidential patient information is subject to potential disciplinary action by the Board."

http://kbn.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E684F8D7-B312-496E-9B75-F8AEB93CAFAA/0/aos34.pdf

So maybe just a suspension is not the worst thing. Let's hope your BON does not get involved. We all live and learn.

Pierrette