Personal info was shared -HIPPA violation?

[Quienes]

My father was in the hospital for a surgical procedure. After he was discharged and home, he got a call from a "care-giver" who stated she got his information from the hospital. He is open to having a caregiver and asked her to come interview. She came to the house and while being interviewed revealed one of the RNs had given her my Dad's number as a possible employment lead, the woman is not affiliated with the hospital officially and is here on a "visitors visa", obviously unlicensed. Following the interview the caretaker emailed the RNs name as a reference. My father's friend, who did the interview and has experience in health care contacted the hospital complaining of HIPPA violations. She has everyone in a frenzy and now passed the "case" to me as it is more than she can handle. Yikes! I feel terrible for the fuss but how stupid of the nurse. What should I do? My instinct is to just let it blow over, no actual harm came of the leak. Thanks for the input.

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

I guess if anything that's not public information was gleaned from the chart and used for personal gain then it's a HIPPA violation. Besides that the whole thing sounds wrong on so many levels. The hospitals legal department should be handling it as far as I can tell.

[caliotter3]

People lose their jobs over HIPAA violations all the time. Nothing makes this nurse special. She should receive some form of reprimand.

[JerseyBSN]

Why do you need to be involved in the HIPAA violation? It sounds like the family called and reported it and now it's between the patient and the hospital employee.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

HIPAA.

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

Sounds like a HIPPA and a conflict of interest as well too me

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

op: why are you involved? are you the case manager? nurse manager or don? compliance officer? risk management officer? if you are none of the above pass this along to someone who is supposed to handle hipaa violations. if you are one of the above, then start from the incident report and move up the food chain according to your facility's policy and procedure. do not take it to heart.... it may have been a simple misunderstanding.

[Teleflurry, DNP]

HIPPA violation - HEAVENS YES. $200,000 fine to the nurse/hospital that released his info could make your dad a richer man. I would not let that blow over. I'd be pretty ticked if a nurse referred a beautician to my mothers house after her hospital stay because she had bed head.

[Old.Timer]

my father was in the hospital for a surgical procedure. after he was discharged and home, he got a call from a "care-giver" who stated she got his information from the hospital. he is open to having a caregiver and asked her to come interview. she came to the house and while being interviewed revealed one of the rns had given her my dad's number as a possible employment lead, the woman is not affiliated with the hospital officially and is here on a "visitors visa", obviously unlicensed. following the interview the caretaker emailed the rns name as a reference. my father's friend, who did the interview and has experience in health care contacted the hospital complaining of hippa violations. she has everyone in a frenzy and now passed the "case" to me as it is more than she can handle. yikes! i feel terrible for the fuss but how stupid of the nurse. what should i do? my instinct is to just let it blow over, no actual harm came of the leak. thanks for the input.

to those that asked why she was involved, it's her father. others indicated it's a misunderstanding. i don't see how you can come up with that.

unlicensed "care-giver" on visitor's visa = illegal, under the table and unable to obtain health aide work through a legitimate agency.

to my way of thinking this is even more egregious than most. plain and simple, there was a co-conspriracy for specific financial gain on the part of an internal employee and an external contact. you can bet your bottom dollar the internal nurse is getting a cut of the business she generates.

individuals, organizations, and agencies that meet the definition of a covered entity under hipaa must comply with the rules' requirements and the rights of individuals for protection of the privacy and security of their health information.

op,

here are links to the main page, complaint packet re hipaa.

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/index.html

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html

i understand your sentiment that perhaps in this case, as far as you are concerned, no real harm occurred; as well as wondering if it is worth the hassle.

trust me, the department of health and human services will be very interested in knowing and following up. if you do nothing more than file a complaint , you will have done a lot. i encourage you to do so. trust me, that is why they are all in a frenzy, as well they should be.

[*Posh*]

It's illegal to work on a visitor's visa... Definitely a violation

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

to those that asked why she was involved, it's her father.

oops... late night...!!!! i totally missed the fact that the patient was the op's dad and that mom passed the follow-up task onto the nurse in the family...

well, as a child who was not there when this happened, i would still investigate the matter rather than jump to conclusions. as stated it reads like a hipaa violation and as you have pointed out, it also reads like there may be other legal problems. thus, there are probably multiple procedures that the hospital must follow regarding this case so the op should have some direction on where he/she can go to follow up.

op: if you do not want to get lawyers involved then, start with the compliance officer. that person probably already received the case by now if your parents complained. if not, he/she should know of it and be able to follow up.

[Batman25]

If the family friend reported it to the compliance officer I would first f/u with them. There is no doubt this is a HIPAA violation and a big one at that. They shared patient name, number, and health info with someone they shouldn't have. This person is unlicensed. The nurse deserves to be fired. I worry even more about other patients who don't have people looking out for them and if they hire this worker the care they will receive. The legal department/risk management should also be notified. The liability here is tremendous and most important patients could suffer. Keep us posted. I'm curious to see where this goes.