[Johnette Burton]

A Physician I know was forced to close his practice because of illness. The person that worked in his office has taken the computer with pertainate information on all of his patients and refuses to return it. A policee report was file but he and his wife were told that nothing could be done. I work in the Heath Care field and am fmiliar with strict confidentiality laws and am wondering if she is not violating HIPAA Law.
Please give any information that might be hlpful.

Thank You,
Johnette Burton
Network Development
INFO EDITED FOR PRIVACY

[Fr_Chuck]

Why can nothing be done if they stole the computer ? They need to talk to the DA about getting charges pressed.

Has the person who took the computer given out or told any of the information on the computer?

[ScottGem]

Who filed the police report? Unless the Physician did so claiming it was his property and the employee had no right to it, then I can see the police doing nothing. The employee may have taken it in lieu of a severance package.

There is no HIPAA violation unless the employee uses the information and/or reveals it to others.

[JudyKayTee]

A Physician I know was forced to close his practice because of illness. The person that worked in his office has taken the computer with pertainate information on all of his patients and refuses to return it. A policee report was file but he and his wife were told that nothing could be done. I work in the Heath Care field and am fmiliar with strict confidentiality laws and am wondering if she is not violating HIPAA Law.
Please give any information that might be hlpful.

Thank You,
Johnette Burton
Network Development

Unless she discloses the info she is not in violation. I don't understand how an employee can take a computer from a workplace and the Police don't care - maybe the Police aren't interested in the info but the should care about the computer. The Physician needs to pursue it again, perhaps with the local DA. If all else fails the Physician's liability carrier may be quite interested as they would potentially handle any lawsuits and should be interested in minimizing their exposure.

Again, I see no violation of HIPAA unless the employee is accessing the info and somehow providing it to third parties. I just can't imagine how she walked out with the info, why there was so little security. I realize in this age of computers it is relatively easy to copy and walk out with info and law firms deal with that risk every day. I am seeing more and more firms that are bonding their employees.

Also, just a warning. Dangerous to post your contact info on the Internet {info removed-<>}, particularly if it's something that has come to your attention through your employment or if the person being accused should (somehow) stumble across it.

[ScottGem]

I don't understand how an employee can take a computer from a workplace and the Police don't care

I suspect the police report was NOT filed by the Physcian, so the police have no proof of theft (officer, the doctor let me keep the computer as a going away present).

Also, just a warning. Dangerous to post your contact info on the Internet {info removed-<>}, particulary if it's something that has come to your attention through your employment or if the person being accused should (somehow) stumble across it.

Right you are, which is why I edited out the info.