Civil Hipaa Violation
civil hipaa violation
Can a hospital give out my phone number?
I recently reported a hospital for a HIPAA violation, in that I received faxes over my business fax that were results of studies done on patients. I reported this to the Office of Civil Rights. I told the hospital that I had reported them. They then gave my home phone number to the patients in question, who are now calling me. Is this hospital in violation for giving out my phone number to the patients?
That’s a really tricky one. When you report a HIPAA violation, you’re suppose to remain anonymous about it. Well, the hospital is suppose to keep it anonymous. It’s not a HIPAA violation per-say however, it depends on who looked up the information and who gave the okay to give out your phone number. Call the HIPAA Privacy and Security Officer and ask them. The problem with HIPAA is that it protects the patients rights and the patient decides whether or not to give out information about their medical condition. Phone numbers, I’m not sure if it’s a violation because they never released what was wrong with you to the public. But still, giving out a phone number to another patient would mean that someone in the hospital had to have looked up the information in your records and that is a HIPAA violation. Like I said, call and find out. Tell them exactly what you described here. What my mother does (see my source below) is call both parties into her office and talk about it. It is actually a dangerous situation that someone gave out your phone number to the person or people you reported. That was not right. So, I do believe it is a violation of your protective rights but be sure and call the HIPAA Officer at the hospital and find out for sure.
HIPAA RIGHTS
