Ask Me Help Desk - Hipaa Laws

Hello! I work in a medical office in PA. There is a desk in which a medical assistant works at which is situated in the hallway next to a public bathroom & maybe 4 feet from the waiting room. Management has recently felt that this was an appropriate place for her to work & I seem to disagree. She has a computer listing the patient schedule & has to make calls to patients nearly all day regarding their conditions, medicines etc. My question is is this not a violation of HIPAA laws. My concern is for the patients & for her to not get caught in a HIPAA issue. Can anyone comment on this? Or tell me if it is in fact a hipaa violation? Thank YOu: JILL

If she is careless and allows people to view her monitor her desk arrangement should be looked at. Also, many doctor offices have screens for computer monitors that only allow the user to see what is on the screen. Hopefully she uses an appropriate volume when on the phone. She may be in a public setting, as most of us in the health care setting are, but as long as she is not directly divulging patient information to people who do not need this information she is not violating HIPPA. Good luck

There should at least be a partition surrounding the area so that the patients must go around a corner to schedule and or report for their appointments, and not have the place wide open. This in my judgement is not a suitable place for this particular workstation to be located. There are also Occupational Health and Safety Association regulations to go by, check them. Good Luck.

undefinedHi,my name is Heather and I work in a nursing home part time and am TRYING to drop down 15 more hours due to a private medical issue I am having at this time and the administrator is telling me he needs more than a statement from my doctor stating how many hours I should be working right now,he wants to know the diagnosis and I believe it isn't his business really because I am not applying for the family medical leave act and I do not carry there insurance at all,and besides they are doing budget cuts at this place I am working anyway(we were cut to 7.5 hours back in June and still are not back to 8 hours a day yet)and I thought just maybe I wouldn't have a hard time at all cutting back my hours,boy did I ever think wrong on that one. I just didn't know if this was a "HIPAA" thing or not?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!! I don't know if I posted this in the right place??

Heather

Hi,
No, this is not a situation in which "legalities" come into play. Many offices or desks are located near other people, in many different confidential settings.
How many people do you think will stop, and try to listen to phone conversations? Probably not many. They have other things to do.
If it really concerns you, you might consider talking with your boss, politely, and making suggestions. If he/she doesn't use your suggestions, then don't worry about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heather65

undefinedHi,my name is Heather and I work in a nursing home part time and am TRYING to drop down 15 more hours due to a private medical issue I am having at this time and the administrator is telling me he needs more than a statement from my doctor stating how many hours I should be working right now,he wants to know the diagnosis and I believe it isnt his buisness really because I am not applying for the family medical leave act and I do not carry there insurance at all,and besides they are doing budget cuts at this place I am working anyway(we were cut to 7.5 hours back in June and still are not back to 8 hours a day yet)and I thought just maybe I wouldnt have a hard time at all cutting back my hours,boy did I ever think wrong on that one. I just didnt know if this was a "HIPAA" thing or not??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!! Thanks!!!! I dont know if I posted this in the right place??????????

Heather

If documentation from your physician is not enough for this guy, then he should read the rules of the Privacy Act Regulations. He has no right to know the diagnosis. Only you, your physician and the health insurance company has that right. Look up anything you can on Privacy Act and put it in front of his face.

Also, those that work in any patient care profession, should be shielded away from other patients, especially in Social Work and/or Psychiatry clinics, as it is nobody else's business to even hear an inkling of what is going on. This too is covered by the Privacy Act that specializes in Patient Care Facilities Worldwide. The waiting rooms and/or hallways are not a place for the workstations. I know this for a fact as I helped update and write the new rules each year as a standard oprations procedure for each employee to have at their desks, and if these standards were not met, the facility did not get accredited.

http://www.mywebsearch.com/jsp/AWmai...are+Facilities

Some interesting reading on almost all of the sites on this search page...

Good Luck,

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_17_1.gif

Hey thanks a bunch, I was just going to ask you where to find out some info and BAM there you sent me a link!! Thanks again!!

Heather:)

Welcome, hope you find what you need.

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_9_16.gif