Foxlern

This is a really good explanation, thank you so much!!

So if you are a nurse in say an optometrist's office and you said "I saw a patient who had eye cancer today" that is a violation because it is relatively identifying however if I said "my patient had pink eye" then that is not a violation because it's relatively common?

I think the more vague I am, the better it would be. But if I said to my mom, dad, or friend that I saw someone who had a disease, and how unfortunate it is because of the lack of info surrounding the disease that they didn't know how they got it or even that they had it, I'm not sure if it violates anything. I never gave any indicators such as names, age, location, gender, etc so I don't think it is a violation because there is no way to track this down. Or if I said that I got to assist in a heart surgery, that should be vague enough that it isn't a violation, right?

If I were to work at a doctors office and go home and tell my husband, mom, dad, etc. about a case but not ever tell them their name or any info other than their case or procedure, is that a violation of hipaa?