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2003-04-01 - 9:38 p.m. I'm HIPAA to that If you live in the Philadelphia area and have been watching local news today, at one point or another they would have mentioned the following: a Marine from Camden has been injured. It's not my brother of course, thank god, too, but I think the more interesting thing about it is that the parents of this guy live across the street from my aunt's place. At noon, the local reporters were already on the woman's lawn, getting stock footage by film/taking pics of the Marine's picture as it rests on her lawn. My aunt, the brilliant mind that she is, said that afternoon, "You know, if she knew the reporters were coming, she could have at least cleaned up her yard a bit." Okay, I'm lying, she didn't really say that. Just... something to that affect. As for myself, I'm fine thank you. Just because I can't make jokes about people's prescriptions anymore... You'll probably hear about this soon too. On April 14, all health care providers in the United States are required by federal law to protect patients' rights by all costs except that of the patient's health... or something to that effect. The HIPAA of 1996 (you can read a lot of 'blah blah blah' about it here) is going to be acted upon now. We had a meeting at work about it today. The long and short of it: If you aren't involved in taking care of the patient, you aren't supposed to know anything. No more loud voices asking about certain medications. No talking about patients and the medications they take in front of others and without need. No more accessing files I have no need to look at. Only what I have to do for the patient, the customer. Really, it just means that I have to use more common sense. And, if any customer complains about the changes coming, I can say, "I'm sorry, but it's Federal Law." I personally don't want to go to jail, even for something as minor as looking at my own mother's information without a reason. The Past - Guestbook - The Future, Too |