How to dodge HIPAA?

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I am loking for some idea's on how to work around this Hippa issue. I have a neighbor who... let's say is not one of most upstanding citizens in our community and has numerous warrents for his arrest. The police know him very well but are never able to find him outside of his house. The other day he came into our ED for a follow up to an mvc. We have a police officer there 24/7. Could I have just told the officer that he had warrents or could I have fraised it in a way as not to violate a HIPPA issue?

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

If he is a danger to others, then, I don't see the problem with alerting the police that he is there. I'd call on my cell phone anonymously. No one is reporting his health history. We have two rapists that are scaring the death out of my community-the most recent was last weekend, when a 19 year old girl was hit on the head with a blunt object and was admitted to ICU. They have taken to attacking women at bus stops. Many pictures are circulating with very descriptive features. I take public transportation often. If I see one of those demons, I'ma callin'.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

I would notify my nursing supervisor regarding the issue.

They can easily discuss this with Risk Management, who are better at knowing the legalities and working the system.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
I'm a little taken aback by the title of your thread. "Dodging" HIPAA is not something that you should even be willing to consider. If you had asked if informing a police officer was a HIPAA violation, that would be one thing. But talking about dodging HIPAA makes it sound as if you know this could well be wrong and you just want to find a loophole.

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Not to hijack the thread but I'm betting many of us have been in situations in which we "looked for loopholes" . I have cared for people whose family or s/o literally dropped them off at the curb and never returned.In several cases these people had life long friends-friends that visited often but were not contacts and could not get info usually because the family were just plain mean and spiteful.I am not the only nurse in the facility that has been in this type of situation and I am not the only nurse who took the friend's phone number and contacted them so the resident did not die alone.And I am not ashamed...
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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
what if he is dangerous?

what if there were an armed robber, or a cop killer or a serial rapist or a serial murderer out there, his name and picture have been on the news, he comes in to the er after a mvc, are you going to treat and street because you don't want to violate hippa or because he might not come back for health care?

this is why i asked...i was trying to get to the reasoning behind the op's thoughts! i also have a feeling that an officer who is in the ed 24/7 may recognize such an individual on sight or by name. but i've no ed experience whatsoever aside from being a patient, so i don't know how "involved" law enforcement is in the department.

*jess*

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uhhhh. then they could get the follow-up and health care in jail. on a more personal note i think this is the same person that has posted different controversial issues like this in the past week or two. all were new posts and the person just joined this month. one post about calling animal welfare, one about two people at work who were romanticlly involved during work, and this post. i believe there was another post but i would have to research it.

i'm concerned about you, actually. i don't know why this is so important...is he dangerous? i've had patients who were most likely wanted by law enforcement, but my job is to care for them, which includes respecting their rights. i doubt you'd want to be turned in when you are seeking medical care. if we start doing this, then people might not be compliant with follow ups or might avoid health care at all costs.

*jess*

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

From the US Dept of Health & Human Services:

http://www.hhs.gov/hipaafaq/permitted/law/505.html

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Disclosing that he is seeking medical care can be a violation of hipaa. If you feel the cops aren't doing their job, there are channels to deal with that--violating hipaa isn't one of them.

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If he was there because of an auto accident, the police should have been aware or made aware of the accident. We have to call on all accidents,dog bites, crimes,etc unless the patient is accompanied by police or EMS. If I report an accident, I only tell them that there are accident victims in the ED and where the accident occurred. It's left up to law enforcement to followup. I just document that I called and what time they get here.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Does your hospital have a HIPAA compliance officer? It should.

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Specializes in med-surg.
Why would mentioning outstanding warrants to the cop be a hippa violation? That has nothing to do with violating health information.

Because he is a patient at the time. If they are not actively requesting information on his location, then you are volunteering something you would only know as a health care professional. Would you tell everyone you know that your pastor is your patient? Not I.

I say leave it alone. If you know he has outstanding warrants, then call the cops when he is home, out of your care and you are away from the hospital and can be a private citizen.

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Specializes in med-surg.
What if he is dangerous?

What if there were an armed robber, or a cop killer or a serial rapist or a serial murderer out there, his name and picture have been on the news, he comes in to the ER after a mvc, are you going to treat and street because you don't want to violate hippa or because he might not come back for health care?

In those cases, there would be an APB out for him and he would be reported. An APB means that they are seeking a known dangerous individual. Warrants just mean that someone is violating the law, not necessarily violent. Those warrants could be for as something simple as not coming to court for a traffic or a noise violation. They could be more dangerous...like bouncing a check, violating a custody agreement or protective order or DUI.

That is a far cry from an armed robber, a cop killer or serial rapist.

You just never know.

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Specializes in acute care.

WHAT!!!! I didn't hear about this most recent one. I thought they had stopped. You know, Pagan, it's going to get even more frightening when the weather gets cooler and everyone is wearing jackets, hats, etc. And I bet he has friends, etc, who are sitting by and doing nothing while he terrorizes our community. Stay safe.

We have two rapists that are scaring the death out of my community-the most recent was last weekend, when a 19 year old girl was hit on the head with a blunt object and was admitted to ICU. They have taken to attacking women at bus stops. Many pictures are circulating with very descriptive features. I take public transportation often. If I see one of those demons, I'ma callin'.
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