Possible termination for HIPAA violations

[Magnolia619]

I am a young nurse that has only been practicing for 1 1/2 years. I love my job as a nurse, and I just got my dream job at a hospital I have always wanted to work at. I have been there for 4 months and I was called into HR for a meeting. They asked me why my name was on patient's computer charts that I did not take care of. They informed me that was a HIPAA violation. I was completely devastated as I thought HIPAA violations were more like wrongly giving information out, obtaining info to use against someone, or copying information and taking it with you. Those kind of things were what I thought of when I thought of HIPAA. I didn't look at charts to find someone I knew or anything like that. I am a night nurse and I would just browse during downtime. I couldn't tell anyone the first thing about what was going on with any of the patients. I was just ignorant and didn't realize that I was violating something. They are talking about termination. What can I do to learn from this? To save my name? To save my license? What happens after termination, if that's what they decide.

Thanks for your time,

Desperately needing guidance,

J

[rn/writer, RN]

I'm so glad that you still have your job. You will not make this mistake again.

I do encourage you to pick up a professional liability policy. You can get insurance for a year for less than one hour of attorney time would likely cost you. About $100. Not only will it cover you if you should have a problem, but it will also help you if you are called to testify regarding someone else or if you volunteer your nursing skills.

Consider this a near miss from which you have learned something important. Thanks for sharing your experience so that others can learn without having to go through the turmoil.

Hope your meeting goes well.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

This thread should serve as an eye-opener to all reading it (or at least a real-life reminder of the consequences to our actions). I know many stated she 'meant no harm' by her actions. Think of all the med errors, Pt falls and other reportable accidents/errors. Most of them are not done with malicious intent. Just wanted to remind you all of this.

It's a tough lesson. Fortunately you've been given a second chance. If you wouldn't mind sharing with us what you're told on Monday, I think it would be great advice for all who are following the thread.

[rn/writer, RN]

Can't speak for the others, but when I said she meant no harm, I wasn't suggesting that her lack of malice should prevent consequences. I was mainly trying to address the harshness of some who appeared to be trying to put the fear of God into someone who was already quaking.

[sweetnurse63, BSN, RN]

Soooo happy for you OP, now you can sleep.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

So glad you were not terminated and it sounds as if your employer truly values you as an employee. Take a deep breath and give yourself a little lovin' care now.

[nursel56]

Thanks to all of you who gave me constructive criticism, prayers, and further USEFUL information. I got a call today that I'm not being terminated. Instead I just have a meeting with them Monday to talk about it and how we can change it. I completely told them the truth and informed them I would do ANYTHING to help me and others in the future. They understood me and know the type of person and nurse I am. I am just grateful that they see me as a nurse that they still want on their team. Yes I did learn all of this the hard way. Just as a poster said before sometimes things might not stick when you are handed a sheet or told in general conversation... Sometimes you practically have to run into it to make it make sense and stick. Believe me IT IS STUCK!!! I will do everything in my power to continue to give the best care I can, smile at everyone I come into contact with, and bring reading material. :-) again thanks to all for the comments that were of use... Some gave it to me head on but still with care, some gave it nicely to try to make me feel better, and others well... Didn't leave me with anything to remember but to wonder if they ever made a mistake in their life, because guess what... I'm human and I learned.

I am so happy to hear this! (just saw this thread today). What I would've suggested is that you simply be yourself, express your regrets, and move on because to me it sounds like you are somebody any facility would want to keep.

I don't know why the rules were not clear in your mind, but it is so obvious your motivation was not to snoop into anyone's business. . . live and learn. I would just add that like so many other things, prior to HIPAA - when the charts were notebooks or file folders we would sometimes read a chart for the medical information contained therein. We've always had patient confidentiality rules, but it was assumed that anything you learned about anyone via any method (overheard conversation, talkative family member, etc) stopped at the door.

Best wishes - now you can go out and gain back that 15 pounds! :)

[Isabelle49]

I'm so glad everything is going to work out for you.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Thanks to all of you who gave me constructive criticism, prayers, and further USEFUL information. I got a call today that I'm not being terminated. Instead I just have a meeting with them Monday to talk about it and how we can change it. I completely told them the truth and informed them I would do ANYTHING to help me and others in the future. They understood me and know the type of person and nurse I am. I am just grateful that they see me as a nurse that they still want on their team. Yes I did learn all of this the hard way. Just as a poster said before sometimes things might not stick when you are handed a sheet or told in general conversation... Sometimes you practically have to run into it to make it make sense and stick. Believe me IT IS STUCK!!! I will do everything in my power to continue to give the best care I can, smile at everyone I come into contact with, and bring reading material. :-) again thanks to all for the comments that were of use... Some gave it to me head on but still with care, some gave it nicely to try to make me feel better, and others well... Didn't leave me with anything to remember but to wonder if they ever made a mistake in their life, because guess what... I'm human and I learned.

Oh Honey I am sooo glad for you! You are VERY lucky!!!!! Nursing is a serious business, you need to be very precise and educated. My Dad always told me NEVER sign anything you haven't read and understand completely....it was the best advice I have ever recieved (I misss you dad:crying2:). Now...... Lesson learned. Be careful and be smart

[DeLana_RN, BSN, RN]

Thanks to all of you who gave me constructive criticism, prayers, and further USEFUL information. I got a call today that I'm not being terminated. Instead I just have a meeting with them Monday to talk about it and how we can change it.

Congrats, you are very lucky to have found one of the few employers who will give someone a second chance. There used to be more of them, but nowadays it's rare....

But I have a general question for those who have been in a similar situation with the more common, bad outcome. If someone gets terminated for cause, how can they ever find another job? How do you get past the many hurdles in today's tough employment market? It starts with the question "Have you ever been terminated?" on applications, an honest answer to which probably leads to immediate disposition in the circular file. So they won't even get a chance to try to explain what they have learned from the situation in an interview, because they won't get that far.

Just giving a "reason for leaving" (found on 100% of all applications, online or not) is a dilemma. Any answer employers consider to be less than truthful can, of course, lead to immediate termination if hired into a new job. So what should such a nurse do?!

Maybe someone can give some advice and encouragement to those whose outcomes have not been this positive.

OP, best of luck to you, I think you will do great.

DeLana :)

[Rob72, ASN, RN]

these rules were originally enacted to prevent patients from having their lives ruined when their personal health information was somehow "leaked" to people other than their immediate healthcare teams. initially, the laws were designed to protect patients who had aids or who were hiv-positive and who stood to lose their jobs, their homes, their families and just about everything else that mattered to them because word got out that they had medical conditions that were poorly understood and greatly feared. they became modern-day lepers once their information became public knowledge. the rest of us have benefited from this more stringent way of handling private medical information.

respectfully, no, not true. the impetus for hippa was the homosexual lobby, and their (legitimate) privacy concerns, but that was not at all the direction of hippa.

prior to 1996, most facilities had privacy policies, of varying sorts in place. certainly not all, and state codes & statutes had not caught up to the availability brought about by emr.

one of the key (legislative) sponsors of hippa was bill frist, ® senator from tennessee.

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=f000439

senator frist concurrently introduced legislation to cap personal injury claim settlements, at the same time. few people were in doubt that this would die. hippa, however...

why would this be important to senator frist?

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personid=1455730&privcapid=1455728&previouscapid=1455728&previoustitle=frist%20capital

his affiliation with hca, and the concurrent interests of his brother, father & grandfather, tom frist sr., jr., and the iiird.

http://www.forbes.com/profile/thomas-frist/

what hippa does: restricts the access and use of phi by individuals. penalties for violation may be levied against a facility or institution, but (and here's the catch) reporting requirements state that if the facility/institution becomes aware of a phi breach, and reports it (federally), "in a timely manner", the facility has done due diligence and is not liable for pursuant damages. liability rests solely on the employee or designeee of the facility, who has signed acknowledgement of the hippa mandate.

in practical terms, if maria, a medical records clerk, sells your social, address, etc., to her cousin mario, who's a member of ms-13, and mario uses fake id (in your name) to buy firearms, purchase 3 escalades to cart his hit squad in, and files for ss disability to supplement his income, you'll have the batfe, irs, treasury and various collections agencies after you. if the facility discovers maria's malfeasance, and reports it, you now have the priveledge of trying to recoup your legal etc., expenses from maria, not the facility which (arguably) was negligent in assessing her as a security risk.

equally, specificity requirements in requesting phi have not improved security for patients or families. some facilities went (initially) so far as to generate different account numbers for "visits" by inpatients to ct, mri, lab, etc.. why? under subpoena for a pi or wrongful death suit, if the attorney did not specify the correct stay, and account numbers, they would not receive a full mr. iirc, around 2000 jcaho decided this was a "safety risk", for obvious (though non-litigatory) reasons, and it has pretty well disappeared.

if one can explain how the loss of civil recourse, by injured parties, results in "heightened protection", i'd love to hear the argument. hippa is probably the most successful pr campaign in history.

what is the greater motivator for securing my records?:

• $2.8 million dollars from the facility, for negligence, and a 5 year prison stretch for the malfeasant actor(willful injury, abuse of authority).
  

or-

• free credit monitoring for 1 year from the facility (which they do not legally have to provide) and the ability to sue susie schmoe, rn/dietary/mr/whatever who makes $10-30/hr. hmmmmm...
  

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

HIPAA, not HIPPA!!!!! (sorry, pet peeve of mine!)

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

HIPAA, not HIPPA!!!!! (sorry, pet peeve of mine!)

Me TOO!! You beat me..... and If you're going to make a point and a good point spell it correctly...