People poking around Hospital Records

[JonDMiller]

This was a release from Iowa


UI Hospitals and Clinics investigating privacy violations

Officials at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa, today announced they are conducting an investigation after a proactive screening of the electronic medical records of 13 University of Iowa football players indicated that some of those records may have been accessed inappropriately.

Under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the medical records of patients can only be accessed by health care workers with a legitimate reason to review those records. UI Hospitals and Clinics routinely screens for possible privacy violations. Such screenings are done to protect the confidentiality of all patients, including those with high public profiles.

The players and their families were notified of the possible violations today. The patients will receive letters that will detail the outcome of the investigation, which may take up to two weeks.

All faculty and staff at UI Hospitals and Clinics agree to abide by privacy rules on an annual basis. Anyone who violates the confidentiality of patients is subject to disciplinary action, including termination.

 

[Travisam]

So many posibilities here. Call me crazy but I'm very suspicious of the press.

 

[CAARHawk]

So many posibilities here. Call me crazy but I'm very suspicious of the press.

I think a more likely option is just some nosy hospital employees. I have seen this over and over. Someone with notoriety comes into a facility and everyone wants to know what is going on.

 

[theboat]

I think this story may get somebody fired after all........just not in the football team.

 

[tm3308]

While it's unethical if the press got ahold of the information they've been printing over the past 48 hours, it doesn't change the fact that the medical info they've run with is true (in that scenario).

Sort of like finding the murder weapon, photos of the crime, and bloody clothes in the home of a serial killing suspect, but the police performed an unlawful seizure. The evidence is inadmissable, but it doesn't change the fact that the suspect is the killer.

 

[cecilB]

disciplinary action can also include fines and prison.... and in this case where national media, young adults, and high profile people are associated...a slap on the wrist, or a loss of a job is the best a viollator should hope for.

 

[imported_ankle23]

I think a more likely option is just some nosy hospital employees. I have seen this over and over. Someone with notoriety comes into a facility and everyone wants to know what is going on.

this. just to satisfy the curiosity the common folk seem to have over 'stars' and in this case, in IC, a football player qualifies as a 'star'.

or, someone getting that, and wanting to provide information to the press, as is the case when someone wants to be first in posting something to a website.....

 

[racerhawk]

If some hospital employees got nosy and inappropriately accessed information that they didn't "need to know" about, they will almost certainly be fired. Maybe a really generous hospital will give a final written warning. That's my experience with these issues.

 

[BALDIES7980]

While it's unethical if the press got ahold of the information they've been printing over the past 48 hours, it doesn't change the fact that the medical info they've run with is true (in that scenario).

Sort of like finding the murder weapon, photos of the crime, and bloody clothes in the home of a serial killing suspect, but the police performed an unlawful seizure. The evidence is inadmissable, but it doesn't change the fact that the suspect is the killer.

So you've been up to the Hospital and visited the players inquestion and talked with the Dr's?

 

[DexterMorgan]

If some hospital employees got nosy and inappropriately accessed information that they didn't "need to know" about, they will almost certainly be fired. Maybe a really generous hospital will give a final written warning. That's my experience with these issues.

Any Hippa violation is automatic dismissal from the UIHC. Trust me on this.

 

[tm3308]

So you've been up to the Hospital and visited the players inquestion and talked with the Dr's?

No. I said that IF medical records were leaked to the media, then 1. the media is unethical for using that info, and 2. the info wouldn't be any less true just because it was obtained illegally.

That's all I'm saying.

 

[PatrickAdamovicz]

While it's unethical if the press got ahold of the information they've been printing over the past 48 hours, it doesn't change the fact that the medical info they've run with is true (in that scenario).

Sort of like finding the murder weapon, photos of the crime, and bloody clothes in the home of a serial killing suspect, but the police performed an unlawful seizure. The evidence is inadmissable, but it doesn't change the fact that the suspect is the killer.

Completely disagree with this. One scenario is a criminal matter, which is subject to "public information". One is a medical matter, which is guarded by Hippa, which basically say's that it's a private matter and no one's business.

 

[storminspank]

This is the first time I am for someone getting fired.

 

[9YRPLAN]

my wife's hospital has someone fired weekly for HIPAA violations it seems.

people are just too nosy.

 

[tm3308]

Completely disagree with this. One scenario is a criminal matter, which is subject to "public information". One is a medical matter, which is guarded by Hippa, which basically say's that it's a private matter and no one's business.

Okay, try a different analogy. A statement is made in a trial, and the judge tells the jury to disregard that statement. Try as they might, those jurors will have that statement in the back of their minds. Just because they shouldn't have heard that statement doesn't change the fact that they did hear it.

 

[latrans]

I think a more likely option is just some nosy hospital employees. I have seen this over and over. Someone with notoriety comes into a facility and everyone wants to know what is going on.

Yep, its this. They sent out a mass email also telling people, among other things, to stop discussing details of patients on the bus.

 

[AHawk1]

Fred Rosenpenis was told from Dr. Fletch ESPN violated the HIPAA laws.

Can we play by the same rules they do?

 

[edr247]

Yep, its this. They sent out a mass email also telling people, among other things, to stop discussing details of patients on the bus.

It happens from time to time, and sometimes even without patients of any particular importance or fame.

 

[DodgerHawki]

This is correct...

I think a more likely option is just some nosy hospital employees. I have seen this over and over. Someone with notoriety comes into a facility and everyone wants to know what is going on.

the hospital has no control over what a player or parent tells the press about the player's medical condition. Biff Poggi can get in front of the press conference and talk about the condition of his son.

This type of investigation the hospital is doing occurs when hospital employee or employees have inappropriately accessed a player or players' medical records. All/most electronic medical record systems provide an audit trail of who accessed the record and when. It is a regular occurrence that hospitals discipline and/or terminate employees who access records they should not have. All employees know this/are told this when they are hired, yet I am amazed at the amount of people who are fired each year for doing this.

 

[iowahawkeyes89]

Does this explain how so much information has been leaked to ESPN?