Private Practice Implements Safeguards for Waiting Rooms
Private Practice Implements Safeguards for Waiting Rooms
Covered Entity: Private Practice
Issue: Safeguards; Impermissible Uses and Disclosures
A staff member of a medical practice discussed HIV testing
procedures with a patient in the waiting room, thereby disclosing PHI to
several other individuals. Also, computer screens displaying patient
information were easily visible to patients. Among other corrective
actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the
provider to develop and implement policies and procedures regarding
appropriate administrative and physical safeguards related to the
communication of PHI. The practice trained all staff on the newly
developed policies and procedures. In addition, OCR required the
practice to reposition its computer monitors to prevent patients from
viewing information on the screens, and the practice installed computer
monitor privacy screens to prevent impermissible disclosures.
| Health Plan Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI through Training, Mitigation, and Sanctions Covered Entity: Health Plans Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures An employee of a major health insurer impermissibly disclosed the protected health information of one of its members without following the insurer's authorization and verification procedures. Among other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case, OCR required the health insurer to train its staff on the applicable policies and procedures and to mitigate the harm to the individual. In addition, the employee who made the disclosure was counseled and given a written warning. ...read more |
| Pharmacy Chain Enters into Business Associate Agreement with Law Firm Covered Entity: Pharmacy Chain Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Business Associates A complaint alleged that a law firm working on behalf of a pharmacy chain in an administrative proceeding impermissibly disclosed the PHI of a customer of the pharmacy chain. OCR investigated the allegation and found no evidence that the law firm had impermissibly disclosed the customer’s PHI. However, the investigation revealed that the pharmacy chain and the law firm had not entered into a Business Associate Agreement, as required by the Privacy Rule to ensure that PHI is ...read more |
| Private Practice Revises Policies and Procedures Addressing Activities Preparatory to Research Covered Entity: Private Practice Issue: Impermissible Disclosure-Research A private practice physician who was the principal investigator of a clinical research study disclosed a list of patients and diagnostic codes to a contract research organization to telephone patients for recruitment purposes. The disclosure was not consistent with documents approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The private practice maintained that the disclosure to the contract research organization was permissible as a review preparatory to research. Activities considered “preparatory to research” include: preparing a research protocol; developing a research hypothesis; ...read more |
| Public Hospital Corrects Impermissible Disclosure of PHI in Response to a Subpoena Covered Entity: General Hospital Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures A public hospital, in response to a subpoena (not accompanied by a court order), impermissibly disclosed the protected health information (PHI) of one of its patients. Contrary to the Privacy Rule protections for information sought for administrative or judicial proceedings, the hospital failed to determine that reasonable efforts had been made to insure that the individual whose PHI was being sought received notice of the request and/or failed to receive satisfactory assurance that the party seeking the information ...read more |
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