Please tell me if this is HIPAA violation:

a) A nurse looking into other nurses patient charting in the computer even though he has nothing to do with the patient

b) A nurse keeping all his past patients in his "Patients List" in the computer

a) Yes

b) probably not.

A nurse can only access patient records that they have been assigned. Accessing other patient's is a clear and serious violation. But keeping a list of patient's the nurse has been assigned to doesn't violate anything.

You can call the Office of Civil Rights. They will return your call after leaving a message. They can answer all your concerns and are knowledgeable in every area of the HIPAA law. They will tell you the specific section of the law if in fact there is an infraction. You can go to the entity you realize is in violation of the law to communicate and inform them of the infraction of your HIPAA rights. If they ignore you, your recourse is to file a complaint with the OCR. They will look into it and a fine of up to I think (?) $25,000 can be assessed.
Good luck. HIPAA is not something many people really understand I have discovered. But we as consumers do have rights and the OCR is there to protect those rights.

Are these test questions? They sound eerily similar to my yearly hypothetical HIPAA retraining scenarios.

1. Yes unless they were told to do this and/or unless they have a reason to do this.

2. no it is not giving out the info