I have coworkers at the hospital that I work who constantly snoop behind fellow coworkers in an attempt to start trouble. Complaints have been made that they are going through patients charts who they are not assigned to in order to find something on staff members. I feel this is a definite HIPAA violation since it is not on a need to know basis. Problem is Labor relations at the hospital say that it is not a HIPAA violation. I disagree. A chart should not be used as a tool for your personal agendas. One, do you believe this to be a violation and two, is there a way for me to have something official sent so that our hospital is aware?

Only HIPAA knows if this is a breach and how serious a breach it is - granted, it sounds like a breach if the purpose of reviewing charts is to cause a problem.

Here is how a violation is reported: Instructions for Submitting Notice of a Breach to the Secretary

Once the complaint is filed "something official," presumably a notice of the complaint, will be sent to the hospital.

How does this snooping affect you? Is it something you can't turn a blind eye to?

This is actually causing dissension amongst our staff. If everyone in the hospital snooped through charts, what type of environment would we have. Usually the snoopers are wrong, but everyone wants it to stop immediately.

Well then everyone should fill out a report and send it in.

What type of environment would you have? I don't know - apparently everyone is busy watching everyone else.

If it's that bad someone should have the "guts" to report the violations.