Transcript HIPAA and Professionalism

HIPAA and Professionalism
In an age of
electronic mediums
Mass General Hospital Settles
Potential HIPAA Violations
 The incident giving rise to the
agreement involved the loss of
protected health information (PHI) of
192 patients of Mass General’s
Infectious Disease Associates
outpatient practice, including
patients with HIV/AIDS..
Mass General Hospital Settles
Potential HIPAA Violations
 $1,000,000 to Feds
 Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to
implement policies and procedures to
safeguard the privacy of its patients.
HIPAA
 Even at UVA this occurs.
 Several weeks ago Medical Student
finds Resident H&P on ground in 14th
street garage.
 Clinical talks with images – left on
outside institution server
Safeguards Needed
 Do not take PHI material off grounds
or leave in public areas on grounds
(bathrooms, meetings, cafeteria)
 Whenever possible erase PHI
 On PACS click the easel icon under G/M
tab.
 PDF of notes…blacken out the PHI
 Password protect
 Jump Drives and Laptops
Credant and your Jump Drive
 After applying
Credant, create a 7
digit password and
a PHI folder on
the jump drive.
 Place files with PHI
in the PHI folder.
 Only files stored
in the PHI folder
will be encrypted
by Credant.
 Off Health System
Network
 Can use and edit nonPHI files without
Credant password
 On Health System
Network
 Will need to use your
Credant password in
order to write ANY
data to Jump Drive
Find a HIPAA Violation?
Report to Office of
Compliance and Privacy
Professionalism
 The internet allows you to post
 Pictures of patients
 Pictures of your colleagues
 Cell phones allow you to MMS
pictures to others or send by email.
 Digital cameras allow you to send by
email
Photographs of Patients
 Use of patient for photographs
require patient consent and must be
documented in medical record
 This includes cell phone photography
 This applies to photography that does
not identify the patient (e.g. limbs)
 Photographs for clinical care (to be
posted in EPIC) still require consent.
Photographs of Colleagues
 Think before posting pictures of
colleagues.
 The person is often identifiable
 The location is often identifiable
 Is the colleague acting professionally in
your picture?
 Do you really want the public to see a nonprofessional moment.
Professionalism
 In the age of electronic medium
news travels at the speed of
electrons.
 Think before your take pictures on your
cell phone, PDA, camera
 Do you have permission from patients?
 Is this for education purposes?
 Think before you hit the send button.
 Are there unintended consequences?