hipaa violation?

Question

My coworker who had just began working in a hospital and also works in a Drs. office. When we were introduced at the hospital, she told some people that I was a frequent flyer at the Drs. office. Please let me know if that is a hipaa violation. She had no right even saying that I was a patient at the Drs. office.

Please forgive my mispelling of hippa.

Answer 1

It doesn't sound like an apropriate comment, but I'm not sure if a law was actualy broken. Hopefully, this site information will help.

PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OF PATIENTS' HEALTH INFORMATION

Overview: The first-ever federal privacy standards to protect patients' medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers took effect on April 14, 2003. Developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these new standards provide patients with access to their medical records and more control over how their personal health information is used and disclosed. They represent a uniform, federal floor of privacy protections for consumers across the country. State laws providing additional protections to consumers are not affected by this new rule.

Congress called on HHS to issue patient privacy protections as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA included provisions designed to encourage electronic transactions and also required new safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of health information. The final regulation covers health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers who conduct certain financial and administrative transactions (e.g., enrollment, billing and eligibility verification) electronically. Most health insurers, pharmacies, doctors and other health care providers were required to comply with these federal standards beginning April 14, 2003. As provided by Congress, certain small health plans have an additional year to comply. HHS has conducted extensive outreach and provided guidance and technical assistant to these providers and businesses to make it as easy as possible for them to implement the new privacy protections. These efforts include answers to hundreds of common questions about the rule, as well as explanations and descriptions about key elements of the rule. These materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa.

Answer 2

Technically, HIPPA only applies to confidential information, ie. demographic info, medical info, ect. Anyone can watch you walk into a doctor's office and even if you aren't there to see the doc that person will assume you are. Are you going to claim HIPPA violation every time that happens? No. You wouldn't even make it to court. While I will agree she showed poor manners, it not a HIPPA violation to say someone is a frequent flier.

Answer 3

So long as it didn't disclose the reason you had received treatment or the results surrounding your medical data, it isn't a violation of the HIPPA laws.

Answer 4

That's definitely a violation !!!!!