The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is legislation that protects the privacy of an individual's health information. This law was enacted in the wake of efforts to minimize health care administration costs, primarily through electronic storage and transmission of medical and insurance information.
Specifically protected are individually identifiable health information, from which an individual's identity could be deduced or extrapolated (e.g., name, address, birth date, Social Security Number).
Every doctor, hospital, clinic, dentist office, and, yes, fire department must have a system in place to protect collected health information. Databases must be secure, filing cabinets must be locked. Patient's charts must be reasonably secured from prying eyes. Initially, this complicated operations for everyone, but has been largely accepted, adopted, and adapted to.
Another requirement is that covered entities educate their patients about this law when health care is provided. That means the nurse or EMT will hand you a form with a lot of words to sign. They might even explain it to you. Most people have seen this form, and the explanations have become pretty terse by now.
I bring this subject to light because one of my goals for this blog is the sharing of interesting, humorous, or touching patient contacts. I plan to do this the same way I'd pass information to a doctor in the semi-public, non-private environment of an ER. This is essentially the same as sharing an interesting x-ray on the Internet. There's important information to convey, but the individual's identity remains top secret. It's like a black bar across the eyes in a photograph.
For instance:
26 year old male, abdominal pain, conscious alert breathing normally, vibrator lost in rectum, seeking transport.
(true story)
or perhaps:
84 year old male, priaprism for 5 hrs, took Viagra, history hypertension, hip replacement, former Republican Majority Leader.
(fabricated)
In the first instance, I have provided age, gender, and medical complaint - not enough data to individually identify the poor fellow who accidentally sat on a sex toy. In the second.... whoops, there's a bit of information might lead the curious or knowledgeable to surmise that Bob Dole called 911 and sought medical help for the condition of priaprism (the definition of which I leave as an exercise for the reader).
Yesterday, I tried to recall some of the noteworthy EMS calls I have seen in my short career. I see a lot of patients, but the details evaporate quickly unless there is something significant that stands out in my mind. I would like to remember and share these vignettes, and this blog is my medium. I want to entertain you, and not get sued.
For more information see the following links:
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacysummary.pdf
http://www.hipaadvisory.com/regs/hipaahistorybyzon.htm
Specifically protected are individually identifiable health information, from which an individual's identity could be deduced or extrapolated (e.g., name, address, birth date, Social Security Number).
Every doctor, hospital, clinic, dentist office, and, yes, fire department must have a system in place to protect collected health information. Databases must be secure, filing cabinets must be locked. Patient's charts must be reasonably secured from prying eyes. Initially, this complicated operations for everyone, but has been largely accepted, adopted, and adapted to.
Another requirement is that covered entities educate their patients about this law when health care is provided. That means the nurse or EMT will hand you a form with a lot of words to sign. They might even explain it to you. Most people have seen this form, and the explanations have become pretty terse by now.
I bring this subject to light because one of my goals for this blog is the sharing of interesting, humorous, or touching patient contacts. I plan to do this the same way I'd pass information to a doctor in the semi-public, non-private environment of an ER. This is essentially the same as sharing an interesting x-ray on the Internet. There's important information to convey, but the individual's identity remains top secret. It's like a black bar across the eyes in a photograph.
For instance:
26 year old male, abdominal pain, conscious alert breathing normally, vibrator lost in rectum, seeking transport.
(true story)
or perhaps:
84 year old male, priaprism for 5 hrs, took Viagra, history hypertension, hip replacement, former Republican Majority Leader.
(fabricated)
In the first instance, I have provided age, gender, and medical complaint - not enough data to individually identify the poor fellow who accidentally sat on a sex toy. In the second.... whoops, there's a bit of information might lead the curious or knowledgeable to surmise that Bob Dole called 911 and sought medical help for the condition of priaprism (the definition of which I leave as an exercise for the reader).
Yesterday, I tried to recall some of the noteworthy EMS calls I have seen in my short career. I see a lot of patients, but the details evaporate quickly unless there is something significant that stands out in my mind. I would like to remember and share these vignettes, and this blog is my medium. I want to entertain you, and not get sued.
For more information see the following links:
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacysummary.pdf
http://www.hipaadvisory.com/regs/hipaahistorybyzon.htm
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