Okay, so a few months ago I relocated and left my past job. A friend of mine recently applied for the open position after I left and got it. I was happy for her, told her that it was a great job and told her about some of my ex-coworkers who were really friendly and acted as mentors to me. When I was working there, I had vented to her about a coworker who wasn't the nicest person (remember, she didn't work there at the time!) but I also told my friend that this coworker was a good worker and we just didn't mesh well with our personalities.
It was a group home type facility/rehab for adults with disabilities.
So the other day this friend of mine starts chatting online with me. She starts asking me questions about PATIENTS. Things like...was " there when you were working here?" As soon as she said that I was like "You know, I'd really rather not talk about specific patients, just because" and I was going to type "hippa" when she was like "LOL you are a good non-hippa violator! Anyways" and she goes on talking about another patient at the facility!
This friend has always sort of intimidated me. I didn't know what to do so finally I was just like "I have to go I'll ttyl."
Yes it was a cop-out. But it scares me that she is talking about patients to other people! The area that I was in...it's a pretty small community.
Am I wrong to be concerned? Should I talk to her??
Dear everyone, it's HIPAA, not "HIPPA". Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
And yes, it was a HIPAA violation and there's no need for you to be uncomfortable. If she gives you rubbish about being a "non-violator", say "yes, well I like my license, although obviously you don't!".
:)
Thank you! I was about to write the correction. Don't know why it bugs me, but it does (prob. my anal retentiveness). I almost fixed a sign I saw in a staff lounge at my clinical site last week, (the nurse manager or charge - I forget who exactly) wrote "HIPPA"
Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one wanting to correct or remind people :)
She's wrong...you were right for getting out of that situation quickly.
My own Mom works in healthcare and often sees patients that are from our hometown...I'd probably know tons of her patients but she has never and would never breathe a word of it to us. Every healthcare provider should take HIPAA seriously.
In your position now you have no need to know. SHE is violating HIPAA. Every care provider knows HIPAA.
The best way to observe confidentiality, is to consider whether sharing information about patients, is essential to their care and well being. If not, "mums the word". If someone left a facility without charting something important, they could send it by certified mail to Medical Records. After death, confidentiality is not needed, unless passing on information could be damaging to family members. So if I want an update when talking to someone I worked with earlier, I ask "Who died?" It's gossip, but also a matter of public record, so no one can get in trouble, unless nasty details are shared, that families would just as soon keep unknown. :imbar
HIPAA was the first moniker for "Health information Privacy Protection Act ______________" (I forget the last word). That was roundly criticised, because hidden in the small, small print was the permission given to insurance companies to share information, which gave rise to the "preexisting condition fracas". So to confuse everyone further, legislators renamed it the "Health Information Portability and Privacy Act"(HIPPA), and kept the substance of the thing, still allowing insurance companies to banter back and forth with whoever they needed to raise premiums and cancel insurance........ You can see that I have a dim view of "health" insurance companies.
I prefer to be insulted that a law is needed to keep health care providers' mouths shut about patients, unless it's necessary to share for their care. We took an oath at some point in becoming nurses, as do other professionals in the health care field. That should be sufficient. But nooooo, due to people suing insurance companies' informers, the insurance carriers insisted that they were paying for care and should be given every detail about patients.
Their lobbyists got millions of dollars contributed to candidates' campaign funds, and have them in the palm of their hands for the rest of their political careers. That's why there should be an equal fixed amount that can be spent on any political campaigns....... The media love the excesses of money, as it pays them well, adds to misinformation about candidates, and keeps ntheir faces on camera.
That situation arose in the late '80s with a big hooha about divulging HIV status. Those who had a test (positive or not) were deemed a "risky" entity and had their insurance cancelled immediately! So anonymous testing at county facilities was born, wherein a number is given someone being tested, and a name is never associated with an HIV test. Until we get rid of insurance companies, it's still a good idea to keep that information anonymous
as well as Hep C tests, out of any chart on you. That goes for drug and alcohol rehab programs, too.
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CorpsmanRN, BSN, RN
106 Posts
Thank you! I was about to write the correction. Don't know why it bugs me, but it does (prob. my anal retentiveness). I almost fixed a sign I saw in a staff lounge at my clinical site last week, (the nurse manager or charge - I forget who exactly) wrote "HIPPA"
Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one wanting to correct or remind people :)