Hospital Implements New Minimum Necessary Polices for Telephone Messages
Hospital Implements New Minimum Necessary Polices for Telephone Messages
Covered Entity: General Hospital
Issue: Minimum Necessary; Confidential Communications
A hospital employee did not observe minimum necessary requirements
when she left a telephone message with the daughter of a patient that
detailed both her medical condition and treatment plan. An OCR
investigation also indicated that the confidential communications
requirements were not followed, as the employee left the message at the
patient’s home telephone number, despite the patient’s instructions to
contact her through her work number. To resolve the issues in this case,
the hospital developed and implemented several new procedures. One
addressed the issue of minimum necessary information in telephone
message content. Employees were trained to provide only the minimum
necessary information in messages, and were given specific direction as
to what information could be left in a message. Employees also were
trained to review registration information for patient contact
directives regarding leaving messages. The new procedures were
incorporated into the standard staff privacy training, both as part of a
refresher series and mandatory yearly compliance training.
| May a covered entity dispose of protected health information in dumpsters accessible by the public? For example, depending on the circumstances, proper disposal methods may include (but are not limited to): Shredding or otherwise destroying PHI in paper records so that the PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed prior to it being placed in a dumpster or other trash receptacle.Maintaining PHI for disposal in a secure area and using a disposal vendor as a business associate to pick up and shred or otherwise destroy the PHI.In justifiable cases, based on the size and the ...read more |
| State Hospital Sanctions Employees for Disclosing Patient's PHI Covered Entity: Health Care Provider / General Hospital Issue: Impermissible Disclosure A nurse and an orderly at a state hospital discussed the HIV/AIDS status of a patient and the patient's spouse within earshot of other patients without making reasonable efforts to prevent the disclosure. Upon learning of the incident, the hospital placed both employees on leave; the orderly resigned his employment shortly thereafter. Among other actions taken to satisfactorily resolve this matter, the hospital took further disciplinary action with the nurse, which included: documenting the employee record with a memo of ...read more |
| Health Plan Corrects Computer Flaw that Caused Mailing of EOBs to Wrong Persons Covered Entity: Health Plans Issue: Safeguards A national health maintenance organization sent explanation of benefits (EOB) by mail to a complainant's unauthorized family member. OCR's investigation determined that a flaw in the health plan's computer system put the protected health information of approximately 2,000 families at risk of disclosure in violation of the Rule. Among the corrective actions required to resolve this case, OCR required the insurer to correct the flaw in its computer system, review all transactions for a six month period and correct all ...read more |
| Health Plan Corrects Computer Flaw that Caused Mailing of EOBs to Wrong Persons Covered Entity: Health Plans Issue: Safeguards A national health maintenance organization sent explanation of benefits (EOB) by mail to a complainant's unauthorized family member. OCR's investigation determined that a flaw in the health plan's computer system put the protected health information of approximately 2,000 families at risk of disclosure in violation of the Rule. Among the corrective actions required to resolve this case, OCR required the insurer to correct the flaw in its computer system, review all transactions for a six month period and correct all ...read more |
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