MarkMiller

What is the HIPAA Law?
HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. Most healthcare insurance companies and providers are to adhere to the HIPAA regulation guidelines by October 2002 and October 2003 for smaller health plans. The HIPAA law is a multi-step approach that is geared to improve the health insurance system. One approach of the HIPAA regulations is to protect privacy. This is in Title IV which defines rules for protection of patient information. All healthcare providers, health organizations, and government health plans that use, store, maintain, or transmit patient health care information are required to comply with the privacy regulations of the HIPAA law. Excluded are certain small, self-administered health organizations.
How Does the HIPAA Law Affect Me?
The complete HIPAA law is concentrated in simplifying the health care system and ensuring security for patients. Title IV is a safeguard ensuring the protection of privacy for your medical information. Along with federally ensuring your privacy, the HIPAA law is intended to lead to reduced fraudulent activity and improved data systems. When fully adhered to by all that are required to comply, HIPAA regulation is estimated to save providers nine billion dollars annually.
How do I Make Sure My Healthcare Provider is Taking Steps to Comply with the HIPAA Regulations?
Some health care providers have taken steps such as controlling access to offices with medical files by electronic key card systems and only allowing employees limited access to the minimum amount of information needed. In addition, the use of special services to make electronic transactions secure is also being used by many medical facilities and insurance providers. If you have concerns about what your health care provider or physician is doing to comply with the HIPAA law, ask them what steps they have taken to ensure your privacy and if they are taking more prevention measures in the future. If your health insurance is from a small, self-administered health organization, they may not have to comply to the HIPAA regulations. It is important to check with them to see if they are complying to the HIPAA regulations, and if not, what steps are they taking on their own to ensure your privacy.
What do I do if I Suspect My Confidentiality has been Breeched? It is important to document all conversations with your health care provider about your breech of privacy. Also, if you have any paper documentation that relates to the concern, you will want to hold on to those. Contact your state insurance commissioner to report fraud from private insurance organizations or call 1-800-HHS-TIPS to report fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
More Help with HIPAA and Other Insurance Issues

HIPAA Regulations and Keeping a Personal Medical LogHIPAA Law and Understanding Your Health Insurance TermsThe High Risk Health Insurance Answer: State Insurance Pools


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From About.com



I am posting this for all of us to be sure and read before a Family member is in an Emergency room and your concerns about treatment are met with an accusation of "Being in the wrong place" if all you are doing is standing at the nurses station or in a hallway in a hospital where your loved one is receiving treatment.

I have long known how HIPAA law was being used by nurses to get rid of a family member who is raising legitimate questions about treatment or care. They threaten the family member with HIPAA law in regards to patient privacy. HOWEVER, it should be known that those laws were designed and written to PROTECT the patient, NOT THE STAFF!

If you encounter a nurse, doctor or healthcare provider who insists that you are breaking the law by being in a hallway of a hospital or nursing facility, you are not in the wrong. It is the obligation of the medical staff not to discuss another patients care or medical records in front of others. IT IS NOT FOR THE STAFF TO USE TO REMOVE YOU UNLESS YOU ARE ACTUALY IN A ROOM DESIGNATED AS A PLACE FOR THOSE RECORDS!

If you encounter this problem, call your counties Ombudsman, or social service department immediately!

You have rights. They must adhere to the law as written and not use it against you! Period.

The Administrator and Director of Nursing at the facility my mother is at.......know this now, and will never forget it.....trust me.

MintJulep

The patient privacy part of HIPAA is truly a hassle because so much red tape is involved. On the flip side, there are positives to the law, such as allowing people to retain the same health insurance coverage for up to 18 months after losing a job.

__________________
"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart. Pursue those." ~unknown

gonzo

GOOOOD luck in enforcing HIPAA regs. My HIPAA was violated by my immediate supv. in Fl. and an IA condoned it.

MarkMiller

HIPPA laws are meant to protect the patient, but have been bastardised by the hospital workers bent on interpreting the law in such a way as to use it as a weapon against patients families.

They do not care if your HIPPA privacy is protected if you are a patient. To nearly all nurses that have ever brought up HIPPA in front of me....it was to get rid of someone. That is in violation of the law itself.

To complain about HIPPA violations or misuse of the law cantact you local Ombudsman to inform them of the violation. (They can't do much...but it is first step in making sure all bases are covered.

Next contact the social service worker at the hospital itself. They may also have a Privacy Administrator.....however, be aware that if they work in the hospital they may be as misinformed about the law as the nursing staff.

The medical Center has signs in the emergency room stating HIPPA Law incorrectly. They were made on a computer localy and are not official county or state signs. They say (roughly) Due to HIPPA LAw and patient Privacy, do not stand or sit in the hallway."

This is a misuse of the law. The law only allows for "Designated Rooms" where records are kept...and requires that that room be locked and unaccesible by anyone but hospital staff. There is NO language anywhere that permits hospital staff to remove someone from a hallway. They can limit the amount of visitors, and can ask for a person to move that may be in the way....but the law applies to the worker not the patient or their family and once inside the emergency room area there is no distinction between a room and the hall. One must walk through the hall to get to the room. There are also other laws that requrie hospitals to allow someone who represents the patient from being kept out of the emergency room. Most emercency rooms keep the door locked for security purposes, so there are laws to protect individuals from being kept out of the ER when they bring in a spouse or loved one. Many ER's now accept Gay unwed partners because of the way that law is written, and recognise these relationships as well as straight unwed couples. Anyway....hospitals have the right to make their own policies....as long as they do not break HIPPA Law. Merced Medical Center is.

The rehapilition hospital where my mother is staying tried to tell my sister to make sure i didn't stand at the nurses station, or in the hall becuase it was against HIPPA Law. They were trying to retaliate against me because they felt i was bugging them too much. Sorry....but if my mother says get someone and I push the button to call....mo one comes and we wait....my mother will ask me to go out and find someone. On her wish i will do so. If they are tired of their jobs.....Wal-Mart is hiring.

I had to stop a nurse for the third time from taking my mother to a shower, when the last time nearly killed her. The Director of Nursing made the decision to limit the shower to once a week and at the same time they will weigh her and do whatever else is needed because of the stress to her breathing....and she is now terrorfied to do it again. The nurses have not been checking the charts and are just set on automatic. The third time i went to the Charge Nurse and whispered to her that I needed to speak with her before she left. I told her what happened in a calm voice and apologised for having to bring it up but that it was happening often and i was guaranteed by the Director...who showed me the chart with the schedule, that the nurses will see this and not take her to the shower. They did.

In retaliation the nursing staff told the director to tell my sister I was breaking the law. My sister the cop. Who told me and I explained that they were wrong. She freaked out and told me they are the proffesionals and I am just wrong. She told me to stay out of the hallway. I told no. If she wanted to spend 12 hours attending her mother than she could make that desicion, but since I was the one there on a daily bases.....fuck them, they will have to prove me wrong and have me removed. I mean come on...where the fuck do they want me to go when my mother has to relieve herself, needs a sponge bath or has to be changed. Do they want me to leave the fucking building? Fuck that.

I went online, found the law, read through it and saw nothing that would allow them to do that. I called the people that I mentioned and then the Administrator of the Hospital and told him that between my self, the Ombudsman and the social service worker, it has been determined that they are interpreting that law incorrectly, and he was actually surprised they said that (it could have been an act) and immediatly told me that they had no right to tell me that. I told him they didn't tell me they told a police officer, my sister and she defended them. So i asked him to call her and inform her officialy. Becuase the stress of my mother dieing and that incorrect information caused a family crises. Basicaly my sister used the argument to express 15 years worth of anger....words were exchanged and....well of the five kids...it's just myself and my two sisters that care enough to carry out our mothers wishes Not to be left alone and now, I am having to defend myself against all of them. It took two days to get things straightend out. Now i am back at the hspital while the rest of my brothers and sister are off gambling at a casino and water skiing at the lake. Do I get invited ....of course not....whos going to feed mom?

Me....that's who. Back to 12 hours a day everyday now....till my mom feels comfortable enough to be alone.

My niece asked me what I do all that time? I rub her feet and her hands because she is in pain. I read to her from all her books that she started but now can't hold. I feed her when she can't hold the fork any more. I help move her when her back and bottum are in pain. So I ask you all......is it too much to ask the nurses TO DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS!!!!! (of course I won't actually say that, but when the charge nurse that went on vaction the day after my mother arrived comes back.....we are gonna have a looooooooooong talk. She has been a family friend since we were in grade school. She calls my mother mom. I know she will make sure they understand that I am not just helping my mother.....but are doing a number of tasks that make their job easier....and have alerted them twice now when the poor woman in the next bed is about to fall on the floor. I cannot help her. I am not staff. I can only do what my mother says when she says go get someone quick....but of course they just think I am bothering them so that woman is going to loose some teeth and I will be a witness for her family as to how long it takes to get help, that they keep pushing my mother drapes back so that "We" can watch her. That's right....I have to be their for both my mother and the woman in the next bed......while the rest of my family unwinds from their hard weekend at the beach and in the casino.

MintJulep

You are a very good son, Mark. Your mother is lucky to have you.

I hope she is doing okay.

__________________
"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart. Pursue those." ~unknown

MarkMiller

She is! She is getting better everyday.

My other sister (not the cop) is doing the other twelve hour shift overnight. She is a very good daughter, even though the rest of the family (except me) have basicaly shunnned her becuase she is devorced. (Catholics) Hell, they never liked her husband either and barely speak to her sons. One of which is the only other person to go to college besides my sister, a former Pentagon official. ( She went gambling tonight)

I needed to vent, get it out..... and now I feel better.

I haved moved back in with my Dad. I wont be going back home again for a few months. It's just easier.

Only thing is.....my parents have a dial up connection. It sucks.

gonzo

Vent anytime you need to Mark. I went through a situation with uncaring, worthless siblings while I was helping my mom pass, and I have one small tidbit I can afford you. Down the road you'll never look back and regret not being there for your mother. It sounds trite, but trust me, it isn't. {{MM}}

guest1234567

Maybe you can kick in to upgrade them to dsl.

aloysious

HIPPA is so damn complicated that I just try and use common sense when dealing with patients' privacy.
I've never known any health care provider or institution that has been reprimanded for violation of HIPPA. Most lay people wouldn't know enough about it to report a violation.
It's a good law, but it's a lot of paperwork to merely state the obvious - patients deserve to have their privacy.

MintJulep

That's great news! Here's hoping she makes a quick recovery and everyones' lives get back to normal as soon as possible. What you're doing is admirable. Make sure you take care of yourself. It's easy to let your own health go when you're exhausted and stressed 24/7. Take care!

__________________
"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart. Pursue those." ~unknown