Wasn't this pretty much the same rules and professional curtsey before =
HIPAA?=20
Sort of, but people were much too lax and information was being shared =
where it shouldn't be shared. With the advent of computer billing =
online, too much information was being made available to the public and =
too many errors were made when faxing medical records.

Anyway my understanding is that the new rules imposed by HIPAA will =
change a lot of things about access to medical records and will be an =
intense PITA to most people.=20
What changes is that insurance carriers will now be limited as to where =
they can share the information and where they can use it for "polls" and =
"research", etc. It's a paperwork PITA, that's for sure, but do you =
really want your insurance carrier sharing your information with the =
government or anyone else that may request it without your knowledge?

And it won't help at all with privacy of medical records IMHO.
It already is. There is a heightened sense of awareness of the =
propriety of sharing medical information. Along with that, we have =
curtailed idle gossip and talk at the nurse's station, in the halls, and =
with excluded family members through education programs. (When I catch =
an employee breaking the privacy codes, they are awarded a pink =
hippo...it is not a badge of honor...and a duplicate goes in their =
employee file.)



--=20
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
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