Prospective employee's psych hx

[ashleed]

It was revealed to me by my assistant nurse manager that she and our nurse manager had looked up to see if a prospective employee had a mental health history with us. We are an inpatient mental health unit connected to a community mental health center. Despite a good interview, they chose to look because the interviewee had mentioned a few things that had led them to believe that she had been there before. They were unsure if she had been there to visit someone or had been a patient herself. It turns out she had been a patient and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Unfortunately, there is a lot of stigma associated with the disorder and this prevented her from being hired. I can't help but feel that this was wrong even though it may have caused us problems should she had been hired. I'm curious as to how other people would handle this information. Thank you for your time.

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

I would report what they told you to HR. That is EXACTLY what HIPAA was designed to protect.

[toomuchbaloney]

I would love to know if the OP actually reported this or simply retreated in fear...

[ePerfect]

The only way I could ever see this as justifiable is if your company has a policy to not hire it's own patients. But to not hire someone due to a disability is not right...

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

It's funny how we wouldn't hesitate to recommend our patients seek counseling or treatment for mental health, yet when it's one of our own, we're critical.

I worked for an inpatient hospital adult mental health unit. The way our insurance was set up, if an employee used our hospital a service was covered 100 percent, but if you went to another hospital for a service we offered it was only covered at 50 percent. Some nurses and other employees had to make the agonizing decision of using our unit because of economics.

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Ive had insurance like that before, but it allowed for mental health and maternity coverage elsewhere.

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

There are very few times that I would go up against a manager or a facility. Sometimes you have to eat a little crow in order to keep from getting blackballed. I think ANY member of upper management can sympathize with even the housekeeping employee, that HIPAA has to be protected and it needs to be a no-tolerance policy. Because if they tolerate a violation of one employee, then the whole system is broken down.

If I were in charge, I wouldn't care who the person was, how long they had worked there or what they did. I could fire someone and feel absolutely no remorse.

[Mortpm1]

If you are in a position to notify the applicant, you should. She has a legitimate right to be evaluated based on her skills, work history and references, just like anyone else. The NM is in violation of several laws, and she is a huge liability for your facility. At a minimum she should be fired. The applicant has a good case for a lawsuit.

[ashleed]

Long story short, I have since been written up over this ordeal by the nurse manager who claims they never did such a thing and that we are unable to hire anyone that has been a patient before. The nurse manager who previously held the position had said that it would depend on the nature of the reason for the person's admission. This was said while she still held the position. Either way, I feel like I was trying to do the right thing and as a result have been unjustly disciplined with a written warning. Because I had made all of this up (according to what the NM wrote in my file) that I was disrupting the unit and undermining their authority. This is the first occurrence of any kind to be put in my permanent file, something that has left me worrisome and fretful. The NM said if I ever had a problem with these alleged actions I should have come to her. Once I rephrased what she had said, she then changed her answer and said to go to HER boss instead. She also tried to ask me details about how I had come to find this out, the identity of the person interviewed, etc. Even yet I still told her how I felt it was wrong and so forth. I do not recall her responding, though it was an understandably intense time.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

How To File a Complaint

Did you use that site to report the Hipaa violation?

The site says: "HIPAA PROHIBITS RETALIATION - Under HIPAA an entity cannot retaliate against you for filing a complaint. You should notify OCR immediately in the event of any retaliatory action."

However, I don't know if that includes only if you report it through them. I would still contact them.

Personally, I would avoid attaching my name to something like that and report it anonymously due to what happened to you.

[Mortpm1]

Wow, high school never ends, does it? If your facility has an emr, it will be easy enough to discover who was in the chart. Consult a lawyer. The write up is just the first step of a campaign that will likely end with your termination. If the NM is willing to violate hipaa, and lie about it, she won't think twice about "making book" on you. Whatever you do, DONT discuss this with coworkers. Vent here, go to a shrink, whatever you need. Make sure you hold your head up, for you know you're in the right.,

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Long story short, I have since been written up over this ordeal by the nurse manager who claims they never did such a thing and that we are unable to hire anyone that has been a patient before. The nurse manager who previously held the position had said that it would depend on the nature of the reason for the person's admission. This was said while she still held the position. Either way, I feel like I was trying to do the right thing and as a result have been unjustly disciplined with a written warning. Because I had made all of this up (according to what the NM wrote in my file) that I was disrupting the unit and undermining their authority. This is the first occurrence of any kind to be put in my permanent file, something that has left me worrisome and fretful. The NM said if I ever had a problem with these alleged actions I should have come to her. Once I rephrased what she had said, she then changed her answer and said to go to HER boss instead. She also tried to ask me details about how I had come to find this out, the identity of the person interviewed, etc. Even yet I still told her how I felt it was wrong and so forth. I do not recall her responding, though it was an understandably intense time.

This seems like an illegal hiring policy to me. I'd file an anonymous complaint with the EEOC. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against a prospective employee on the basis of disability alone. A blanket statement of "we don't hire anyone who's been a patient in the past" IS discrimination.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I would contact the website too and see what they advise. I don't know if you are obligated to report it through them if you know about a HIPAA violation.