Hippa breech question

[Khall7716]

So I worked for a clinic and transferred to another clinic one of my coworkers from the other clinic happened to come into my clinic to be seen by a physcian we stopped and spoke I did not provide direct care to this individual, I had no idea why he was even at the clinic other than for an appointment which he had provided that information. I had mentioned that I had seen him to a co worker at my previous clinic. I didn't discuss the reason he was there or anything just that he was at the clinic for an appointment and he found out about this. Is that a hippa breech?? He reported me to HR and compliance department.

[MilliePieRN]

I think it is a breech of hipaa...

[MunoRN, RN]

Unless the clinic you used to work for dealt with only a single diagnosis or was a mental health specific clinic, it was not a HIPAA violation. A HIPAA violation only occurs when specific health information is disclosed inappropriately. Simply saying that you are aware someone has seen a physician in a clinic is not a HIPAA violation.

Keep in mind however that employers often enforce their own privacy rules which have nothing to do with HIPAA.

And just to warn you, there are those who for whatever reason will become obsessed with your use of "HIPPA" rather than HIPAA, so I'll distract them for you:

HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA HIPPA

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

If you didn't disclose any details about his reasons for being there or any medical information, HIPAA doesn't come into play. If I see you sitting in the waiting room at my doctor's office and I mention that to a mutual friend, I haven't violated any privacy laws.