I work in a medical office and my ex husband lost his insurance and we have a child involved. I had the AR person who works the insurance he had verify his coverage so that I could let my HR department know my child needed to be added. I was called in the office this morning and was told this is a HIPAA violation. My ex husband gave me permission and will back that up. The website she used is a public website if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield. Can any one advise me on this or where I can find more information. Thank you

First its not a good idea to piggyback your question on another thread. This can lead to confusion. So I've moved your question to its own thread.

I don't understand how this is a violation either. You were asking that his medical coverage be verified with his permission so your employer could add your child to your coverage. No treatment or diagnosis of your child was discussed. So I fail to see the violation. Ask the "office" to explain how you violated.

Perhaps the violation is using your capacity as an employee of a medical office to obtain medical information, especially over the phone or email, when you could be anybody. Saying you are his ex and saying you have his permission are not proper procedure. Saying you are 'calling from your medical office' could be even worse, if you said that, because of what it implies.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

First its not a good idea to piggyback your question on another thread. This can lead to confusion. So I've moved your question to its own thread.

I don't understand how this is a violation either. You were asking that his medical coverage be verified with his permission so your employer could add your child to your coverage. No treatment or diagnosis of your child was discussed. So I fail to see the violation. Ask the "office" to explain how you violated.

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Thank you for moving this all of this is new to me. I had his permission in writing and they haven't even asked about that. I am still waiting to see if I am going to be let go. I don't fee I there was a violation either. In all reality the site the AR person looked on is public it is for BCBS members. I will take your advice and ask for them to explain how it was a violation. Thank you again for moving my thread.

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Originally Posted by joypulv

Perhaps the violation is using your capacity as an employee of a medical office to obtain medical information, especially over the phone or email, when you could be anybody. Saying you are his ex and saying you have his permission are not proper procedure. Saying you are 'calling from your medical office' could be even worse, if you said that, because of what it implies.

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I understand what you are saying if I had done any of that then yes I agree Hippa. In this case I went to the BCBS AR person and asked them to verify the coverage. I have written permission from my ex husband to verify his insurance. I don't believe anyone should release information just on a verbal. It needs to be in writing. The coverage was verified on a website. Thank you for your response.

I have Blue cross. It may be a public site but in order to access a specific account requires a sign in password. I can't access someone else's account or details. I don't know if the letter meets HIPAA but I don't think that calling his personal account a public site will help you.
You say that they didn't ask them about the letter, have you told them about it?
Maybe instead of a permission letter, he should have given you his sign in password info so you could get into his account yourself.

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Originally Posted by smearcase

I have Blue cross. It may be a public site but in order to access a specific account requires a sign in password. I can't access someone else's account or details. I don't know if the letter meets HIPAA but I don't think that calling his personal account a public site will help you.
You say that they didn't ask them about the letter, have you told them about it?
Maybe instead of a permission letter, he should have given you his sign in password info so you could get into his account yourself.

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It depends on what was verified. To verify that he has an account with BCBS would require access to non public records. To verify that certain medical care was covered they would only need to know what plan he was under and could get that info from a public site.

But I can see how asking someone to verify that he is covered without permission might be considered a violation. But it's a stretch.