4 ms·
Bonus points that most medical offices have only a vague idea what HIPAA actually includes. 80% of the time an office says "we can't do the thing you're asking
by arkades 7y ago
Bonus points that most medical offices have only a vague idea what HIPAA actually includes. 80% of the time an office says "we can't do the thing you're asking us to do, it's a HIPAA violation," it's not a HIPAA violation.
- alexbanks 7y agoMy shoulder surgeon gave my name, phone number and a vivid description of the circumstances that arose to warrant my shoulder surgery to a woman she thought I'd be a good match with. She even told the woman to "not tell anyone because this is a huge violation." It goes both ways.
- arkades 7y agoOh, don't misunderstand me. Their understanding is alllllll full of false negatives and false positives, absolutely. But I was specifically referring, as a pain point, to how often offices use HIPAA as an excuse to not do things patients want them to do. I'm a physician that has worked in health policy. I get very, very volubly angry when a front desk puts me off with "that's a HIPAA violation" and it isn't. It's "we don't want to be bothered doing things that convenience the patient, and here's an excuse that sounds like it's out of our hands." When they share information they're not supposed to, it's often - not always, but often - at least with the underlying intention of doing right by the patient, as opposed to just trying to get rid of them.
- mehrdadn 7y agoHow did you find out?!
- alexbanks 7y agoThe girl told me.
- papln 7y agoWhat kind of match? Romantic match? What was your reaction when a stranger called you for a date?
- alexbanks 7y agoA date, yeah. I thought it was weird, but figured if this surgeon risked her professional career to hook the two of us up, I should see what happens. The date was terrible.
- brighter2morrow 7y agoHope the surgeon has accident insurance!
- defen 7y agoC'mon, you can't tell that story without sharing how you got your shoulder injury and whether it actually ended up being a good match.
- itronitron 7y agoyeah, the circumstances seem like an integral part of the story, were they helping a distressed pregnant elephant give birth?
- ralmeida 7y agoMaybe lifting a lot of weight, or got injured while playing in a major sporting event?
- alexbanks 7y agoJust long term impingement from powerlifting. We went on a date, it was awful. I paid and never called her again.
- brighter2morrow 7y ago>My shoulder surgeon gave my name, phone number and a vivid description of the circumstances that arose to warrant my shoulder surgery to a woman she thought I'd be a good match with. So were you a good match or what?
- MockObject 7y agoA match for what? Was she donating her spare shoulder?
- hathawsh 7y agoThis reminds me of a friend of mine. Jenny Ahlstrom learned it can be valuable for patients to voluntarily share their own medical data: https://newsroom.siliconslopes.com/jenny-ahlstrom-mother-cancer-survivor-founder-of-healthtree/ https://newsroom.siliconslopes.com/jenny-ahlstrom-mother-can... Key quote: “Everyone — from hospitals, tech companies, and pharma — wants patient data,” Jenny said. “But each have their own data silos, HIPAA restrictions, regulatory concerns, and liability issues. Through trial and error, we discovered the key to the puzzle: patients have the freedom to aggregate their own data and freely share it to drive new research.” I look forward to seeing more initiatives like hers.