By now, everyone has probably heard about HIPAA, and have an understanding of what it stands for. If not, it's an acronym for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which is the federal law that protects the privacy of personal health information.
Did you know, that if you were to work in a medical office and violated the HIPAA law, that both you and your employer could be fined up to $250,00.00 each if you were proven guilty of violating this law? Which brings me to three personal stories of violation of HIPAA that happened within my own family.
A close relative had a suspicious mammogram and ultrasound and needed a breast biopsy. There was a lot of mis-communication with the doctor's office ordering the test, and the radiology office where this test was to be preformed. Another relative has written permission to speak with medical providers on the patient's behalf. A good week has gone by and no one has heard from the radiology office. The patient calls and is told that they will call her after certain parties have reviewed the referral and prior films to determine what needs to be done. They will call her back the next day. Nothing happens. Another few days go by. The relative calls the radiology office and when she gives the patient's information; not only does she give the wrong birthdate, but the receptionist corrects her! UGHHHH As soon as incorrect information was given, the correct information SHOULD NOT have been volunteered by the radiology staff. I don't even believe that they verified that "the relative" had permission to speak with them either.
Violation #2. This one personally happened to myself recently. I needed to get copies of my shot records for MMR and Chickenpox, as I am going to be doing some volunteer work at a hospital. I called the medical office where I had the vaccinations, but didn't expect much as I hadn't been there in over twenty years. I knew it was a long shot that they might have records on me still, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I called the medical records department and gave them my name. They couldn't find any records on me, (no surprise there), but did volunteer the names of my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and two neices that are still patients there. I knew that all of these people went to this clinic, but the medical records clerk didn't know that I knew this. She should have never given me their names. She should have merely said, "We don't have you in our system anymore", and left it at that.
Lastly, another realative saw a physician and he ordered a blood test. He sent the order to the printer, and handed it to her. She took it to the lab, and looked to see what he ordered. Ummm, he forgot to check the name on the order before he grabbed it off the copier, and just handed her the first one he grabbed; which belonged to someone else! She handed the paper to the lab tech, and told her it wasn't her. The lab tech was able to get her order and do the correct lab work, BUT she folded the wrong order in half and asked my relative to take it back to the doctor. OOPS She should have just taken care of it herself!
I realize that HIPAA is still fairly new, but by now health care workers should have had it drilled in long enough to be uber-careful about it! Let's hope things happen in three's, and this won't happen again to any of my family members or you and your family.
You can read more of my posts about insurance on my blog at http://healthclaimshelp.blogspot.com/
