Facebook Hipaa Violations
facebook hipaa violations
Is this a HIPAA violation? Please help!!?
I had a sonogram done yesterday , i got home and posted a pic of the baby on Facebook . I was looking at picture today, and realized that they used my SSN as my patient ID number. From my understanding it is illegal to do this now. I immediately removed the picture, but am very worried considering it was posted online along with my name on my facebook. Is there anything i can do about this legally?
They passed a law saying that insurance companies can not use ssn as ID numbers anymore. wouldnt this fall under that law also?
Who told you it was illegal to use your SSN on your sonogram? They were wrong. It’s not at all illegal. It’s frowned upon in some circles but there is no law against it.
People think HIPAA says all kinds of things. It really doesn’t say much at all. It makes organizations responsible for creating their own policies that will protect patient health information, but it doesn’t provide a lot of specifics on how exactly they need to do this.
ADD: I don’t think they did pass a law about health insurance numbers being different from SSN’s. Drivers licenses, yes, but not health insurance. My insurance plan number is almost the same as my SSN. Medicare numbers are also the same as SSN for most people.
In any event, the whole issue is moot because the hospital did not release the sonogram to anybody but you. It was your choice to post the picture on Facebook. They didn’t tell you to do that.
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, my wife got an ultrasound last week and promptly posted it on Facebook. It had her SSN on it too so I had to take it down, crop it and re-post it. I was extremely proud of the picture, but then my wife pointed out that what I thought was a very well-endowed son was actually the umbilical cord. We won’t be able to tell the sex until her next appointment…
