Anyone with legal knowledge???

Hello All,
I have a few questions regarding an issue that is going on right now and I am in need of someone who knows the laws of HIPAA and healthcare etc. Im not sure if there are any lawyers on the site here or what but I would appreciate any help I can get. Please send me a message.

I have to deal with HIPPA on a daily basis. I have just made it a point not to allow any patient identifiable information at all leave the unit at all, ever, I dont even let my students take their patients name off the unit with them with them and I dont carry names down to my office. But that is pretty much all I know, I just dont mess with it.

Feel free to call me or the wife. She dealt with it for years as a charge nurse. I learned the basics at FD/EMS training.

Good it just scares me so I dont mess with anything that can get me in trouble.

Ok so here is the problem- Ive been in the medical feild for over 6 years. I know the law etc.
I was recently pulled in by mangers etc and told I violated hipaa by viewing a neuropsych test of a patient of ours. This paper came over the fax with no confidential cover page. We recieve and read many of these daily. We have to because we order the test and we find out things about patients that may have caused their condition that they failed to tell us during the appt. So I read the report and left it be, I didnt talk about it to anyone and I didnt share it with anyone. Now correct me if I am wrong but when the patients signs a release of records and things get sent to us that gives us the right to view them and they have essential given us the right to view them as well. So after the fact I found out she was an employee but was terminated before I even started working there. I do not know her nor have I ever met her. So because of this I was suspended from work for 3 days without pay and given a final warning in my record. I later came to find out a few days later that my co-workers have been viewing my personal records since back in 2007. I am a worker and patient in the office I work in. I can see them having to look at some of my records but they have looked at recent ER reports, other doctors notes and went back to read what the doctor said about me at my last appt.

Did I really do something wrong? I mean she is a patient of ours, we got the test report. There was nothing malicious or sneaky about what I did.

Sounds to me like they are building a case against you. You probably do need some legal advice. If you did not discuss the fax with anyone and did not leave it laying where others could inadvertently access it you should be in the clear. Were you authorized to view these reports as part of your job duties?

Part of my job is to scan information into patient charts- so I do believe that I was authorized to view them. Otherwise how would i get them into the charts?

Lithium said:

Part of my job is to scan information into patient charts- so I do believe that I was authorized to view them. Otherwise how would i get them into the charts?

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You didn't violate HIPAA for viewing, sorting or filing patient charts.
The info is there, you were doing your job.
Our girls in medical records know the patients and residents just as well as we do, right down to the last detail.
Now if you went and blabbed to the whole town about the info contained therein, then you'd be in violation.

Lithium said:

I later came to find out a few days later that my co-workers have been viewing my personal records since back in 2007.

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that would bother me more than anythig else

in what capacity were they "viewing" your file? were they involved in your treatment as a patient, or were they snooping. I think that would be more of a violation.

Sounds like you need a different job anyway.

your job is reviewing incoming faxes - that one did not have a cover sheet -- not your fault. You can rebut the write-up and "counselling session".
your co-workers reviewing your records with no need is a breach of HIPAA & PII. Especially them talking about it in the open where they can be overheard by others with no "need to know".
you need to talk to a lawyer and start looking for both a new job and a new medical provider. You may also have grounds to file a HIPAA complaint ofyour own against your coworkers who are not involved with your direct care.

Erik said:

your job is reviewing incoming faxes - that one did not have a cover sheet -- not your fault. You can rebut the write-up and "counselling session".
your co-workers reviewing your records with no need is a breach of HIPAA & PII. Especially them talking about it in the open where they can be overheard by others with no "need to know".
you need to talk to a lawyer and start looking for both a new job and a new medical provider. You may also have grounds to file a HIPAA complaint ofyour own against your coworkers who are not involved with your direct care.

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I think Erik's opinion is right on.

thcri said:

I think Erik's opinion is right on.

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yup, I don't think any good lawyer would have a problem taking this on.

SShepherd said:

that would bother me more than anythig else

in what capacity were they "viewing" your file? were they involved in your treatment as a patient, or were they snooping. I think that would be more of a violation.

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They viewed my whole record up too and including a psych eval that my insurance required for my surgery next month.

Lithium said:

They viewed my whole record up too and including a psych eval that my insurance required for my surgery next month.

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They have definitely violated HIPAA. I would find a lawyer in your area conversant with the HIPAA regs and have him initiate some form of action.
Even if that is nothing more than a supervised review of their handling system.

So... I had a meeting with the director of human resources. Things pretty much boiled down to me being wrong no matter what I say. I even showed her the records of my chart being looked at but she passed it off. I told her I do not think I violated HIPAA because this person was and still is our patient. She had this study faxed to us- she signed a release stating that it should be sent to us...of course people are going to see it. I told her if you think for one second that no one else ( according to you) has violated HIPAA - your fuckin stupid- this whole damn company is stupid. And she said well if we need to suspend the whole office we will- I was said like fuckin hell you will. In the end she said it doesnt matter what you say or do- you are wrong..... so give me 25 more days till have surgery and I will be looking for a job till then. I can not stand a heathcare organization who so damn petty. They may be the biggest healthcare provider in PA but it doesnt give them the right to treat their employees like shit- one day it will bite you in the ass. And when that day happens im gonna laugh so hard I piss myself and shoot soda outta my nose at the same time....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcmPOwpL9HI"]YouTube- Office Plankton - Fuck You, my dear Office Boss![/ame]

I'm tellin ya..........you better lawyer up.

A common tactic for big companies to take lately is to label you with some mental illness, fire you...and then you are totally hosed

No so- Then plays in the ADA...

I've used this link for work (I am a first responder there) because we got in to a bind critiquing a response and used names in the minuets of the meeting.

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html

Good luck with the boss issue!
Changing jobs sucks as I say same pile of crap different faces no mater were you go work there are always but heads!!!!!!!!

tom