Personal info was shared -HIPPA violation?

Nurses HIPAA

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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.

So let me get this straight. Someone - an RN - gave your dad's phone number to a complete stranger without your dad's permission. And this person is here on a visitior's visa.

Call the hospital's compliance officer immediately. If you have the name of the nurse who passed on your dad's phone number, so much the better. This is so wrong that I want to make the call myself!!!

Wrong, wrong, wrong. CALL. Immediately.

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Specializes in ED.
HIPAA.

Worth repeating.

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HIPPA laws are in place to protect people.While your father may not have been harmed, this kind of violation has the potential to harm others.Imagine a vulnerable patient without a support network/family...so very many things that could go wrong in this type of situation.

Not only is it illegal, it's the perfect setup for elder abuse...

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Thank you for the input, I am pleasantly surprised everyone has such strong convictions. I will follow up as suggested with the compliance officer. Great to hear your opinions.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
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.

Yes, it is a clear HIIPAA violation of the most classic type.

The RN was not authorized to give out your father's information, period. If she is doing it to him she is probably doing it with other patients.

Yes, she needs to be reported. If she loses her job, then that falls under the category of too bad.

PS: And let's hope the RN isn't giving out other information such as his social security number, etc.

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Specializes in Peds, School Nurse, clinical instructor.

Yes, this is a very big HIPAA violation, and yes I would report it. I am quite sure your father is not the only person this has happened to. At least he has you to look after his well being. A lot of elderly people are alone and can easily be taken advantage of. Report this woman....

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych, Tele, ICU.

Needs to be reported...This cannot be tolerated.

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Specializes in Making people feel better.

So sorry for this situation, and I agree that it's wrong on so many levels!! Obviously, the hospital employee never should have released your dad's info...even if the objective was to offer employment to a nurse, and to help your dad.

I agree with Teleflurry that you should not back down on this. Ultimately it is the wish of your dad to drop the case. I am not aware of the inner workings once a complaint is filed due to a HIPPA violation of such magnitude, but in dealings with other federal and state claims, I know that a file is begun and usually this stuff is investigated thoroughly. If you are dealing with it, you should probably see it thru, at least to the point where you know that the hospital was held accountable. Of coorifice, just my opinion. As for a financial award for your dad's suffering- eh, I dunno, but not feelin it's gonna happen...but who knows.

I am a caretaker of a family member, and I have to say that if some random nurse who was referred by a hospital, not even holding proper licensure contacted me after discharge..I would be mortified!!!!

Who knows the danger that your dad could have been in if he wasn't so lucky to have a network of smart, knowledgeable people like you and his friend... Yow!

Sorry for this..and good luck..please post when it all plays out to tell us the outcome.

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Not only is it a HIPPA violation it could also be dangerous...you know nothing about this person or what they actually intended. The elderly are often targets of all sorts of scams. Report it! Quickly!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
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.

she is involved because this was her father as stated by the very first sentence of the op.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Acute Rehab.
Sounds like a HIPPA and a conflict of interest as well too me

Please see Stargazers post. It is right above yours.

HIPAA!!!

Can someone please tell me how in the world so many nurses on this board do not know how to spell the abbreviation for this federal act, that is so much a part of our working lives, correctly??? This just baffles me.:confused:

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I agree with others - definitely a violation that should be followed up on.

Since the proposed "caregiver" is unlicensed and here on a visitor's visa, I'd also recommend filing a complaint with INS/Dept. of Homeland Security (or whoever they are this week) so at least there's a record of it.

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