Health Sciences Center Revises Process to Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures to Employers
Health Sciences Center Revises Process to Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures to Employers
Covered Entity: General Hospitals
Issue: Impermissible Uses and Disclosures; Authorizations
A state health sciences center disclosed protected health
information to a complainant's employer without authorization. Among
other corrective actions to resolve the specific issues in the case,
including mitigation of harm to the complainant, OCR required the Center
to revise its procedures regarding patient authorization prior to
release of protected health information to an employer. All staff was
trained on the revised procedures.
| May a covered entity dispose of protected health information in dumpsters accessible by the public? For example, depending on the circumstances, proper disposal methods may include (but are not limited to): Shredding or otherwise destroying PHI in paper records so that the PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed prior to it being placed in a dumpster or other trash receptacle.Maintaining PHI for disposal in a secure area and using a disposal vendor as a business associate to pick up and shred or otherwise destroy the PHI.In justifiable cases, based on the size and the ...read more |
| May a covered entity use or disclose protected health information for litigation? Answer: A covered entity may use or disclose protected health information as permitted or required by the Privacy Rule, see 45 CFR 164.502(a) (PDF); and, subject to certain conditions the Rule typically permits uses and disclosures for litigation, whether for judicial or administrative proceedings, under particular provisions for judicial and administrative proceedings set forth at 45 CFR 164.512(e) (GPO), or as part of the covered entity’s health care operations, 45 CFR 164.506(a) (PDF). Depending on the context, a covered entity’s use or disclosure of protected health information in ...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 |
| Private Practice Revises Process to Provide Access to Records Covered Entity: Private Practices Issue: Access A private practice failed to honor an individual's request for a complete copy of her minor son's medical record. OCR's investigation determined that the private practice had relied on state regulations that permit a covered entity to provide a summary of the record. OCR provided technical assistance to the covered entity, explaining that the Privacy Rule permits a covered entity to provide a summary of patient records rather than the full record only if the requesting individual agrees in advance to such a summary ...read more |
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