HIPAA! Civil War with my part time job.

[backwoodscountry]

I am currently working with an inhome provider. I answer to two different people in the office, the RN and the Scheduler. The office is torn because HIPAA...

The medical files are all kept in the nurses office under lock and key. Extra copies of the Plan of Care are kept in the schedulers office. On the POC the only information that can be seen is the plan of course and name and phone number, no medical info is available.

If I step foot into the scheduler's office and need a blank copy of the Caregivers worksheet I have to ask the Scheduler to get it out of the cabinet. Due to the fact i may see a name from another client my nurse will not allow us to get into the cabinet. We all have gone thru all the HIPAA training (several times)...

In the office we have to be open to work any and all of the clients. So in my mind if I work everyone in the cabinet and there is not more information in the cabinet other than names and phone numbers is it really a violation?

I hope this makes sense i am writing this tread out of ANGER I am tired of being pulled in two different directions!

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

It might be a violation for you to see names and phone numbers uness you have a "need to know". What it really comes down to is they need to have a system where the person who needs to know can have access. In our hospital I have access to every patient's account. HOWEVER, the computer is tracing which accounts I get in to and I have signed a security agreement stating I will not look at anything that is not needed for me to do my job, including my own account. If I defy that agreement, and the HIPAA regulations, then I am hanging my own butt out to dry. Meanwhile, I have access to what I need.

[backwoodscountry]

The main thing that makes me question is the fact that all workers are on a tight schedule. If we need copies of blank paperwork we have just enough time to run in grab paperwork and run back out the door. Each hanging folder in cabinet all you can see is a last name and a first initial. I know my clients where they are located i am not worried about everyone elses clients. I attempted to call the US Civil Rights office just to lay it to rest for myself and all other workers here...BUT i cannot get ahold of ANYONE. The recording keeps saying that noone is in the office and you cannot leave a voicemail.