This is a stretch to call HIPAA violation

[T-Bird78]

I work in an outpatient clinic and recently went to EMR. As part of meaningful use, the front desk is required to print a summary of the day's office visit for each pt. One day a teenager and their parent came in, and upon checking out the parent went to the restroom so the front desk staff gave the office summary to the pt, who put it in their backpack. A week later the parent called, raising cain, and yelling HIPAA because, and I quote, "If someone else had gotten their backpack and opened it they'd see all her medical information!", then proceeded to call our business office and file a HIPAA violation complaint against our office. Since then, the front desk staff has to print the office visit summary and put it in a sealed envelope (now there's an option for pts to opt-out of receiving the summary). I tried to reassure our front desk that they did NOT violate HIPAA because they gave the pt their own summary and once it's out the door it's out of our hands. Was that a violation?

[Angeljho, MSN, NP]

$$$$ and their 15 minutes of bashing the medical profession on FB or other social media!

I bet it was staged. The mom conveniently went to the bathroom during the time the office was handing off medical information. The mom knew what she was doing.