HIPPA Violation?

justme1972 · Oct 20, 2008

Yes, and it can be easily proven b/c most IT depts at hospitals do keep track of it and records of it.

However, if you are talking about pulling a file off a shelf...no way to prove that unless someone witnessed it.

allnurses Guide · Oct 20, 2008

:yeahthat:

Curious as to why you would need to do this...

Dinsey · Oct 20, 2008

Unless you are accessing information because it is specifically required for a patient currently being cared for by you, then you are violating HIPAA.

And if it's a computerized charting system, the IT department can and WILL audit.

I work at a Level 1 trauma center and after a recent catastrophe, many employees were disciplined for looking at online records of victims without permission.

Another hospital in the area fired quite a few employees after a chart audit for looking at records of family, friends, neighbors without appropriate reason.

NursePaula · Oct 20, 2008

Just recently a hospital here in town fired several people for this very thing after an audit as well as a couple of the nurses were suspended without pay for 3 days for looking in their own charts. Huge, big....and every IT department runs regular audits. Agree with above poster why you are curious about this....

robred · Oct 20, 2008

I assume your question has to do with this...

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/ethics-nurse-patient-relationships-339803.html

It sounds as though your conscience is telling you something....I'd suggest you listen to it.

AnytownUSA · Oct 20, 2008

A family member is the former employee and suspicious,that's all.

rph3664 · Oct 20, 2008

Would it be a violation of HIPPA for a healthcare employee to look up information on a former patient for personal use? If so, how could it be proven?TIA

What on earth do you mean by "personal use"? I sure hope you are not a health care professional, if you are asking questions like that.

Even before HIPAA (that's actually how it's spelled), it was a violation of patient confidentiality to look up information for any reason other than patient care. It always has been.

As for looking up one's own records, the hospital where I work discourages but does not prohibit it. I'm not aware of anyone being disciplined for this; the reason is because people have looked up things like AIDS tests, biopsy results, and the like, and they were not in a supportive situation when they got their answer.

rph3664 · Oct 20, 2008

A family member is the former employee and suspicious,that's all.

Well, then, that gives you a plethora of reasons NOT to do it!

Batman24 · Oct 20, 2008

Of course it is a HIPAA violation to look it up their info if they are no longer under your care. IT does regular audits to check for this very thing. Chances are excellent you would lose your job. Please don't do it.

RNKPCE · Oct 20, 2008

We are told we can get disciplined/fired for looking up our own health records. ..................... So could I then turn around and sue the hospital for the HIPPA violation to my medical records by their employee :))))))

rph3664 · Oct 20, 2008

Of course it is a HIPAA violation to look it up their info if they are no longer under your care. IT does regular audits to check for this very thing. Chances are excellent you would lose your job. Please don't do it.

A physician who was on staff at my hospital was a patient there, and to nobody's surprise died , and I heard recently that over 40 employees got warning letters because they accessed this doctor's records when they had no business doing so. I'm not aware of anyone who got fired for this incident, although other people have been for looking up records and telling outsiders what they saw.

My dad often asks me, "Do you have any interesting patients in the hospital?" and I always reply, "Sure! Can't tell you about them, however." Once in a while, I can tell him about a patient because their story was on the news or in the newspaper, and then only what the media reported.

Remember when George Clooney was in an accident and some people got fired for looking at his records, and he didn't see what the big deal was? Okay, it was public knowledge that he was in an accident, but nobody outside the hospital needs to know his serum creatinine, or his prior surgical history, or whatever, and this might have been what got them caught. Ditto the people who printed off multiple pages of Farrah Fawcett's records. Granted, I sometimes have to print records, but I place them in the shred bin as soon as I'm done with them (unless I need scratch paper, in which case they go in there before I leave work).

And there was that terrible story about a hacker getting Gianni Versace's records when he was shot. Chances are, the firewalls that exist now were not even though of in 1997.