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
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Wasn't this pretty much the same rules and professional curtsey before HIPAA?

katysails wrote:
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.

Yes, an update was well overdue. The way information is transmitted has changed considerably.



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.

OK, thanks. I may have had this backwards, the opinion of some of the folks in this field around here think it will make it easier for insurance companies to "proprietize" an individuals medical info.


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?

NO!! The more so since that info is of commercial value nowadays. If anybody is going to turn a profit on my medical secrets, it should be me!


(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.)

That's a good idea. You should make them wear a little pink hippo pinned like a brooch... no sorry, can't do that, it might be construed as "weight-ism."

Regards
Doug King