Some of you don’t seem to understand HIPAA…

1. Some of you don’t seem to understand HIPAA… • H = Health I = Insurance P = Portability A = Accountability A= Act • Go to Miss E’s webpage and read the following scenarios and answer: • How does this violate HIPAA? • You may use your notes. Work with a partner • Turn in your assignment (15 scenarios total)

2. Violation 1 • A psychiatrist from New Hampshire was fined $1,000 for repeatedly looking at the medical records of an acquaintance without permission. • Why is this a violation of HIPAA?

3. Violation 2 • A jury in Waukesha, Wisconsin, found that an emergency medical technician (EMT) invaded the privacy of an overdose patient when she told the patient’s co-worker about the overdose. The co-worker then told nurses at West Allis Memorial Hospital, where both she and the patient were nurses. The EMT claimed that she called the patient’s co-worker out of concern for the patient.

4. Violation 3 • One health care company released the email information of hundreds of their patients when a worker at the company sent a mass email reminding patients about their pill schedule.

5. Violation 4 • One common example of a HIPAA violation is therapists not saving their files to a protected computer, allowing other employees access to personal information.

6. Violation 5 • One violation of HIPAA regulations that seems to be more common is the extraneous release of information to employers. Often, employers receive information about their employees who are making disability claims or even minor insurance claims. Sometimes insurance companies will release too much information. This release of information can negatively affect the employee through workplace embarrassment, harassment or even firing.

7. Violation 6 • Security is a major issue when it comes to HIPAA violations, and many violations of HIPAA are caused by negligence on the part of a health care employee. Sometimes computers are left open with files readily available to other employees; sometimes family members look at confidential files and release information maliciously.

8. Violation 7 • Two separate cases involved an employee leaving unencrypted backup tapes with PHI in their vehicles while parked off-premises

9. Violation 8 • Another case was due to employees mistakenly sending PHI to contractors that posted the information publicly online.

10. Violation 9 • During nursing clinicals, one of the students went to the nurses desk, called a friend, and told them that their step-mother was in the hospital with pneumonia and it looked pretty bad. The student did this in front of 2 students, at least one nurse, a doctor, and the unit secretary. She was turned in for violating HIPAA and was told by the hospital that she was not welcome back. Our clinical instructor told her to go home. She was later notified by the department that she had been dropped from the program. She appealed, of course, and continued to attend class. Her clinical review was last Thursday and this morning she was in class for our test...

11. Violation 10 • A friend of mine unknowingly violated HIPAA during a clinical rotation.. One of the patients on the floor also happened to be a client in a long-term care facility she worked for. My friend overheard the physician and a nurse in the hallway saying some very derogatory comments about the care the patient had been receiving, it was not real clear if the remarks made were directed toward the family of the patient or the LTC facility from which the client came from. My friend sent a text message to a co-worker who was also involved in the patient’s care. That co-worker went to the director of the LTC with the information that was over heard. The director then contacted the hospital to notify them of a breach of HIPA. The student didn't do this to be malicious, and didn't know that it was a violation of HIPAA at the time, they stayed within the realm of healthcare of the patient. They were reprimanded through the school and it was also turned into the BON…

12. Violation 11 • A relative of mine was a nurse. She just lost her job over a HIPAA violation. She took a cell phone picture of a patient and sent it to a friend. She later had a falling out with the friend and he threatened to forward the picture to the hospital. She went to her supervisors and told them about this threat, police were called to deal with the friend. She was given the option to quit or be fired and quit.

13. Violation 12 • The Harris County Hospital District has fired 16 employees, accusing them of violating patient privacy laws, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. District officials would not offer more details on the employees' actions. Most were fired on Friday. A county employee who asked not to be identified told the Houston Chronicle that two high-ranking administrators told him the fired employees had looked at the medical records of Dr. Stephanie Wuest, a first-year Baylor College of Medicine resident assigned to Ben Taub General Hospital. Wuestbecame a patient at Ben Taub on Oct. 29, after she was shot in a grocery store parking lot. She is expected to make a full recovery, her mother said Wednesday. Most of the fired employees worked at Ben Taub. They include managers, nurses, clerks and other employees. Ben Taub's physician corps is staffed by physicians from Baylor. The county employee who requested anonymity said hospital administrators told him at least a dozen Baylor employees not involved in Wuest's care also looked at her records.

14. Violation 13 • I am a nursing student and have been in my program 6 months. Over the weekend, a good friend of mine was in a car accident and in the ICU. I went to visit him, and he was telling me what happened but he wasn't sure what exactly had happened and what was all fractured. Of course me being a student I was so thrilled to be in the ICU and was trying to apply what I know so far to what I was seeing go on in his room. Today at clinical at the same hospital, I figured I'd stop by and see him, but then I was thinking maybe he would be moved to a regular med surg unit by now. Without even thinking, I clicked on his unit in ICU and checked to see if any new notes were added and his vitals for today to see how he was doing. Simultaneously, it suddenly dawned on me this was a HIPAA violation, and I quickly signed out, realizing what I'd done. We have had very little info about what specifically constitutes a violation, but I obviously knew enough to know about a minute in to realize I had made a huge error in judgment.

15. Violation 14 • A full term mother at 38 weeks came into the hospital last month and delivered a baby. The mother states she did not know she was pregnant, and thought her labor pains were "gas" pains. This mother delivered at shift change, and mother nor baby came to the nursery before this particular shift ended. My question is if a message seen on Facebook later that day suggests a comment/opinion about this situation: something is just not right if a mother is full term and delivers a newborn without knowledge of being pregnant due to "gas" pains.

16. Violation 15 • A nurse, the assistant manager of a PICU, sent a picture via text of a 1 year old, with a severe handicap with a description "poking fun" at the appearance of the child. The picture was sent to two separate individuals. the child’s face was in the picture but no patient name, diagnosis, or any other identifying description. the individual then instructed the people to picture and text was sent to, to "delete right away". They did not. The same individual sent another picture via text of a 6 month old, with the child’s face clearly visible but, again, no identifiers such as name, but did say the child had RSV.