I am at dinner with my husband tonight and he tells me that he got a call today on his cell he uses for work from someone who claimed to work at the office of a doctor he saw one time over a year ago saying that said MD told him my husband had come to the office for back pain and asking if he had time to talk about his pain killer usage... (background... DH has 2 herniated disks and nerve damage for about 5 years now and a lot of pain and is under treatment from a different doc and gets injections into the bones every other month. This particular MD is a family practice doc and when we moved here last year, hubby chose her for primary and he saw her ONCE for a physical when he was told she couldn't manage him and he would have to see someone else... He changed his primary asap and the new MD sent him to ortho and pain management which is specialists who were treating him in NY). So back to today, my husband told the man on the phone he could not talk because he was at work and was given a phone # to call back when he could. He called the man back a few hours later and it went to voicemail saying this is "John at such and such clinical research facility" leave a message. DH didn't and told me later about call.
Well my DH works in advertising sales locally and it just so happens that "such and such research facility" is one of his clients. So not only did this doc give out his name, cell, and medical history to this research company, they gave it to one of his clients at work... The phone # that he called btw is in no way associated with the docs office and instead links to research company. I googled this company and they have multiple studies on back pain happening right now so I am assuming they were soliciting participants.
Am I completely wrong about this being a HUGE hipaa violation cause I feel like this is pretty bad news... And what the H-E double hockey sticks do we do now? These people are his clients and don't need to know his medical history! It's a fairly small company, 5 PIs, clinical staff of 20... How many other people I wonder are getting the same calls and don't know that their info has been exposed??? Lucky for us my DH told me and I told him not to accept any more calls from this man saying he works for the doc but this is completely wrong and a hipaa violation, is it not?
Semantics aside, the medical information releases are only good for one year. Sounds like a definite violation to me. I could see some Dr's office being fined, but it might be hard to prove damages to get any financial benefit for your husband.
Probably need to get a lawyers opinion. They're the ones that make all this crap up.
Sometimes doctors do have a "research" clause. Always be aware. Call and ask the doctor to review your info (ALL forms signed)... if you find it IMMEDIATELY revoke it in writing and verbally, and if you don't, speak to SOMEONE about it to get it to STOP NOW! Then call Hipaa if you desire, but def speak to the physician as well.
Also, re: Research clients, even though they are his "clients," they, too, have to abide by hipaa rules.
Semantics aside, the medical information releases are only good for one year. Sounds like a definite violation to me. I could see some Dr's office being fined, but it might be hard to prove damages to get any financial benefit for your husband.
Probably need to get a lawyers opinion. They're the ones that make all this crap up.
Why would the assumption be that the OP is seeking financial benefit? I will give OP the benefit of the doubt that the issue is simply resolving what led to the breach of privacy, not to seek to gain monetarily from it.
Sign of the times in this country that this statement is even made.
Good Lord Almighty. Puhleeaze stop berating the OP and look through the trees at the forest. The question has to deal with a probably/possible violation of the privacy act. It is so extremely disheartening to have people go off on a tangent for something so trivial when compared to something that is frightening/maddening/frustrating/ or what have you that is supposed to be the topic at hand.
If I were in your shoes, I would go the office that the suspected privacy breach originated from and ask to see what they include in the fine print surrounding the privacy laws. I would inquire how long they've been using that particular form and go from there. You may decide to ask out right if disclosing information to ABC Company is in violation of the privacy act, or you may decide not to. Either way, it's a beginning that may shed some more light on what is going on.
I am very sorry for obviously offending you so severely that you felt the need to reply to not one, but two posts in a row regarding my error in misspelling hipaa. In fact, my embarrassment in my error is so great that I attempted to delete my post in it's entirety which is not an option, and to delete my account here completely, which is also not an option, so I must sit here with my head hanging low in sorrow over being a disgrace to the profession. I see that you have almost 2000 posts here on allnurses.com, and are presently a nurse educator, so I realize that you must be somewhat of a nurse expert, not only in your particular field, but in the vast world of internet nursing. I hope that my error that was made in frantic cell phone typing has not caused you any personal frustration or grief and that I have not made your many, many, many hours spent here or membership fees for allnurses any less valuable to you, as this is clearly a very large part of your life. I can only look into my past, and wish upon a star that I could go back in time and have the joy of experiencing you as a teacher to me so I could have become a much better nurse than the failure and embarrassment to the profession that I clearly am today. I also hope that in all of your internet ventures and in real life, you stay true to yourself and stand proud in the fact that you are a great representation of nurses around the world and will never, ever, make an error in frustration. I wish I could meet you in person so I could see what I may become if I could really put my all into my internet persona. Everyone needs a goal and I thank you with all my heart for taking just a minute out of your busy life to be such an inspiration so I can become a better person and nurse than I am today.
Thank you for everything...
ME
I think this is uncalled for....
Yes, its HIPAA not HIPPA
Being corrected is not meant to be an unpleasant experience..
Hey! I know how to stay on topic and address the situation--it's very serious problem, that well would you look at that...butterflies....
Good Lord Almighty. Puhleeaze stop berating the OP and look through the trees at the forest. The question has to deal with a probably/possible violation of the privacy act. It is so extremely disheartening to have people go off on a tangent for something so trivial when compared to something that is frightening/maddening/frustrating/ or what have you that is supposed to be the topic at hand.
If I were in your shoes, I would go the office that the suspected privacy breach originated from and ask to see what they include in the fine print surrounding the privacy laws. I would inquire how long they've been using that particular form and go from there. You may decide to ask out right if disclosing information to ABC Company is in violation of the privacy act, or you may decide not to. Either way, it's a beginning that may shed some more light on what is going on.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Dear Roser13,
I am very sorry for obviously offending you so severely that you felt the need to reply to not one, but two posts in a row regarding my error in misspelling hipaa. In fact, my embarrassment in my error is so great that I attempted to delete my post in it's entirety which is not an option, and to delete my account here completely, which is also not an option, so I must sit here with my head hanging low in sorrow over being a disgrace to the profession. I see that you have almost 2000 posts here on allnurses.com, and are presently a nurse educator, so I realize that you must be somewhat of a nurse expert, not only in your particular field, but in the vast world of internet nursing. I hope that my error that was made in frantic cell phone typing has not caused you any personal frustration or grief and that I have not made your many, many, many hours spent here or membership fees for allnurses any less valuable to you, as this is clearly a very large part of your life. I can only look into my past, and wish upon a star that I could go back in time and have the joy of experiencing you as a teacher to me so I could have become a much better nurse than the failure and embarrassment to the profession that I clearly am today. I also hope that in all of your internet ventures and in real life, you stay true to yourself and stand proud in the fact that you are a great representation of nurses around the world and will never, ever, make an error in frustration. I wish I could meet you in person so I could see what I may become if I could really put my all into my internet persona. Everyone needs a goal and I thank you with all my heart for taking just a minute out of your busy life to be such an inspiration so I can become a better person and nurse than I am today.
Thank you for everything...
ME
Hummm.....since Roser13 posts seem to be gone.......I'm sorry you were harshly criticized. HIPAA is one my pet peeves...... but I don't haze people (at least I try not to) who make this extremely COMMON mistake. The grammar police can be harsh here....I always take what is said with a grain of salt. It is very easy to criticize anonymously.
As to the post.....I'll be there was fine print for the4 release for research purposes or to a healthcare clearing house for certain information for insurance and research purposes. Call that MD and revoke it ASAP.
being corrected is not meant to be an unpleasant experience..
op, dont get so hung up on that post.
plenty of people are giving good advice,
stay positive.....
i didn't realize there was an error--just passed over it...talk about dyslexic. for me the post was not a problem; however, the info contained in it was informative. from what i remember, if one wishes to conduct a research study, there are specific guidelines the researcher must follow. information about the study--who, what, when, where, etc.--must be revealed, in an appropriate place, in writing (i believe). to acquire info without providing this info is a breach of research rules.....
but I don't haze people (at least I try not to) who make this extremely COMMON mistake. The grammar police can be harsh here....I always take what is said with a grain of salt. It is very easy to criticize anonymously.
dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I
1,163 Posts
Semantics aside, the medical information releases are only good for one year. Sounds like a definite violation to me. I could see some Dr's office being fined, but it might be hard to prove damages to get any financial benefit for your husband.
Probably need to get a lawyers opinion. They're the ones that make all this crap up.