Doctor-patient confidentiality breach. what would you do?? POLL

Question...

What is the HAMP program? If the doc gave info on your health, that is a problem. Does HAMP have to do with health issues?

E

Thanks for clearing that up! I don't think it violated any medical rules but still, I would be fuming with anger, and it is bad behavior on the docs part. I say I don't think so because I am not a doctor, etc. What the heck gives him the right to give your number out w/o asking you first? It certainly was bad manners.

If this doc was a therapist, I do know they could loose their license to practice therapy over this, as it is quite personal.

Shame on this doctor. Can you go somewhere else? I would also make a complaint with the AMA against him over this. A complaint with the American Medical Assoc. whether it is medical or not holds a lot of weight with doctors.

I am truly sorry about this! Best of luck to you my friend!

E

Tom, I feel certain that the Dr. didn't think he was doing anything wrong, however, it WAS wrong! He should have contacted you and asked for your permission first. I personally think that the Dr. is an idiot for doing that. If I were in your shoes, I would never go to see that person again and I would tell everyone I knew about his breach of confidentiality (although he did not violate any HIPPA laws that I'm aware of).

Well, depending on what type of doctor he is, it could be a breach of HIPPA. In any case, he should have taken that persons' info. and given it to you and let you make the choice! What, are doctors now selling patient info to make a buck? They do it with corporations, but with individuals and no background check? You are right to be po'd. I seriously think you deserve an explanation from this "doctor" and then decide what to do. If the answer isn't valid--pursue the option of a lawyer--simply because that private info could do you more harm than good in the future...do you really know everything he shared about you? Of course not. Good luck--It's rediculous that you confide in your doctor and end up having personal info shared with a stranger(s). That stranger can now share your private info with the whole world...such a sad state of affairs.

If the Dr. gave out any information about your health and such then yes he violated HIPPA Laws and not the stage one violation but the stage 2 violation that can result in a $250,000 fine. If he didn't give out any of your personal health info then he's only really guilty of not thinking about how you would take having a total stranger call you out of the blue to talk about that subject. Fell free to shoot me an e-mail if need be and I can have the wife look it over to make sure on the HIPPA stuff as she's the HIPPA officer on base.

He did not violate HIPPA laws as he did not disclose any medical information, (although HIPPA laws do entail even achknowledging name of patient) - However I don't believe this to be your case. I feel this was more a matter of miscommunication as you allowed him to give your number out for a different matter, on a personal matter, sounds as if he was actually trying to do you a favor. Actually, IMO, you should Thank him for thinking of you and for even taking the time o out to do anything at all. Most doctors don't have the time or would even care to do so. Since he made a mistake in giving your number to someone you don't approve of, just let him or the office know, you do not need any further help with this matter. Sometimes stuff just happens, but in no way do I feel he did anything wrong except try to help. Respectively Hek

Opps, I mis-read where you stated you had given your "previous" caretaker permission, if you "did not" give this physician perimission, which I thought is what I read, then he did violate HIPPA laws, it's not just about health information, it's acknowledging your even a patient. I am not allowed at work to even let an individual know if we have a certain patient on our floor, it violates their rights. They must know this information through the patient themselves, or through family and have a "pin" number. Yes, what he did was illegal, if not his doing, someone in the office may have been just trying to be helpful and clearly does't understand the full impact the HIPPA laws stand for. I hope this clarifies what I wrote above. I don't know if I would go to extremes on this one, but I would definetly call his/their office and let them know you do not appreciate what was done and warn them of the consequences it entails should you report it. That should end it. Not sure Tom, how much of a prick you want to be about it, but I guess you could be, will it do you any good, no. Now if this physician is profiting in some way from doing this with all his patients like referrals, then it should be investigated. Don't know what to tell you, it does happen. They count on people who are ignorant. Up to you really Tom.

It was a HIPPA violation, at least as most health care facilities interpret the law. Sounds like a "no harm, no foul" situation. You might be doing the doctor a favor by giving him a heads up. If he does things like this on a regular basis he could likely get in some trouble.

Yes it was a HIPPA violation after I re-read it. Now the determining factor will be, was it innocent or did he take advantage of you for "profit"...is he getting a "cut". That will be hard to prove, but he did violate your presence as a patient, and yes, that is illegal. It's up to you.

Your first action should be to write a letter to the doctor detailing the incident and your concern about the potential violation of your HIPAA rights. Explain in the letter that you had not given the doctor permission to release your information to this person and that you do not wish to be contacted by third parties. Make sure you also have documentation of the phone call you received from this other person and what the conversation entailed, as well a your phone calls to the doctor and the emails you have sent. The more documentation you have, the better. In that light, it would not be a bad idea to schedule a visit to the doctor to discuss the situation and document his/her response.

HIPAA law guarantees your privacy to all personal health information which includes individually identifiable health information and any information that identifies an individual or can be reasonably believed that it can be used to identitfy the individual (SSN, date of birth, name, address, etc). http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/ In this case, the provider gave out your name as well as your phone number, thus identifying you without your permission.

The next step if you want to take it would be to contact a HIPAA attorney (or health law attorney). They may or may not agree to take the case. A lot of it will depend on your documentation and determination. If there are other patients who have experienced similar treatment, it will help. Most lawsuits of this type drag out because the doctor's attorneys know that an individual usually cannot afford attorney fees, court fees, expert fees, etc. or at least not for as long as they can. They will drag it out as long as they can to get you to drop the suit.

Without consulting an attorney, you could contact any carriers that you know this provider has contracts with. For example, if they are contracted with Humana, call Humana and report to them what happened. Definitely call your carrier and let them know what happened. The reason being is that they may sanction the provider or void their contract. They won't tell you about it, but they will look into it. And the less contracts a provider has, the less business they have coming in the door. Who wants to go see a doctor that is not covered by their carrier? Same goes for any hospitals this person is affiliated with. Most do not want an association with a doctor who violates HIPAA rules.

Keep in mind that these are pretty serious steps to take and that there will be a lot of work involved that you will have to do. I'm not sure that you really want to go that far in this case, but at least that is some information in case you do.

I can definitely relate to the sense of violation! And for a little encouragement, I'll tell you my story. I recently had a surgery and met with the anesthesiologist prior to the surgery. He told me to contact him the Monday after my surgery to discuss billing/insurance information (this was on Christmas Eve and his office had not filed it prior to leaving the day before). After I had been taken to the operating room, while I was under anesthesia he came out and demanded payment from my parents or he said he would not continue the surgery. Then he had someone write down their credit card number, didn't make them sign anything and gave them no receipt. He is being prosecuted for credit card fraud and has been sanctioned. My insurance carrier and three others have dropped him from their networks and my surgeon as well as the hospital are no longer doing business with him. He lost his hospital affiliation there and since it was the only hospital he had privliges at, he is now trying to obtain them elsewhere. I also have a lawsuit pending; we are working on a settlement figure right now. So, a success. But I had LOTS of documentation and his own assistant signed an affidavit on my behalf. Typically these cases are not processed as quickly as mine are but I have been very persistent and threatened to go to talk to the local news about it; there is a local station that has a weekly "health report" that was interested in the story. I have a feeling that is what has been pushing it through. :)

In any case, I'm sorry you went through that but good luck!!