Large Provider Revises Patient Contact Process to Reflect Requests for Confidential Communications
Large Provider Revises Patient Contact Process to Reflect Requests for Confidential Communications
Covered Entity: General Hospital
Issue: Impermissible Disclosure; Confidential Communications
A patient alleged that a general hospital disclosed protected health
information when a hospital staff person left a message on the
patient’s home phone answering machine, thereby failing to accommodate
the patient’s request that communications of PHI be made only through
her mobile or work phones. In response, the hospital instituted a
number of actions to achieve compliance with the Privacy Rule. To
resolve this matter to the satisfaction of OCR, the hospital: retrained
an entire Department with regard to the requirements of the Privacy
Rule; provided additional specific training to staff members whose job
duties included leaving messages for patients; and, revised the
Department’s patient privacy policy to clarify patient rights to
accommodation of reasonable requests to receive communications of PHI by
alternative means or at alternative locations.
| 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. ...read more |
| May a covered entity use or disclose protected health information for litigation? Answer: A covered entity may use or disclose protected health information as permitted or required by the Privacy Rule, see 45 CFR 164.502(a) (PDF); and, subject to certain conditions the Rule typically permits uses and disclosures for litigation, whether for judicial or administrative proceedings, under particular provisions for judicial and administrative proceedings set forth at 45 CFR 164.512(e) (GPO), or as part of the covered entity’s health care operations, 45 CFR 164.506(a) (PDF). Depending on the context, a covered entity’s use or disclosure of protected health information in ...read more |
| HHS Issues Guidance on HIPAA and Audio-Only Telehealth Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), is issuing guidance on how covered health care providers and health plans can use remote communication technologies to provide audio-only telehealth services when such communications are conducted in a manner that is consistent with the applicable requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, including when OCR’s Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth - PDF is no longer in effect. This guidance will help individuals ...read more |
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