Doctor offices viewing all your prescriptions at a pharmacy (chest, medicine, patient)
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Exactly. HIPAA laws allow for sharing of medical information to any providers ( including pharmacies, and health insurance providers) involved with patients' health care.
Exactly.
And 99.9% of the population thinks HIPAA is a document that PROTECTS their privacy.
And 99.9% of the population thinks HIPAA is a document that PROTECTS their privacy.
It doesn't.
It gives consent to SHARE it.
Only with other providers directly involved in your medical care. It doesn’t give consent to share with your friends, employer etc. I work in the medical field and you only ever see or discuss a patient’s information if you’re caring for them or have a direct need to know.
Unless your employer is a large healthcare system. I worked for a large, midwestern university healthcare system about 10 years ago, and after I started my job, one of my co-workers told me not to get my healthcare in that system. I asked why, and he told me that employees have been known to "access" other employees' medical records, even though it's totally illegal. I took his advice and got my medical care elsewhere in the city.
I work in IT for a major hospital system. Doing this is grounds for immediate termination and is heavily audited. We run reports on this daily and people get fired for it.
I work in IT for a major hospital system. Doing this is grounds for immediate termination and is heavily audited. We run reports on this daily and people get fired for it.
Good! This was 10 years ago, and hopefully the tech has improved since then with daily audits, as you mention. Perhaps it's less of a problem now than in the past, unless you are a movie star. People do get fired for accessing those records.
See links below:
50 people fired at Northwestern for viewing records for actor Jussie Smollett.
Here is an article with a long list of employees who were either fired or suspended or disciplined a various healthcare centers around the US for viewing celebrity medical records inappropriately. I guess they thought they wouldn't be caught. I think they ALL should have been fired at the very least. Celebrities included movie stars, NFL athletes and other high profile individuals. In some cases fines were involved and jail time.
If a person ever files an insurance claim from being injured in a car wreck the insurance company will demand to see ALL of your medical records for the past 5 years or longer.They are looking for anything that could discredit you and your claim... Also all records from any physiatrist and his notes on you can be reviewed for anything you may have said that could in some way discredit you.....All of this focus on you and you were the victim just trying to have your medical bills paid.
Whoa! thankfully, I've never been in a car wreck. But wow! I've not heard of this. The past 5 years? Auto insurance companies should ONLY be able to view the medical records pertinent to the accident. Period.
Is this true everywhere, or is it state-by-state law that allows this? Or is it specific to certain car insurance companies?
And yes, car insurance companies are in the business of looking for ways not to pay a claim, like most other insurance.
I ran across some good advice for anyone in a car crash and "adjusters" who are requesting records. Step 1 is get a lawyer and have him or her review the medical records release you will be asked to sign.
"Although you will have sent copies of all your relevant medical records along with your personal injury demand letter, the adjuster might ask for some additional record you have not provided. For example, if X-rays were taken but you’ve provided only the records from your doctor and not from the radiologist, the adjuster might ask for the radiologist’s records. Or if there is an indication of a preexisting injury, an adjuster might ask to see medical records concerning that injury."
"It is up to you to decide whether the request is reasonable. If it seems to be, tell the adjuster that you will provide the records if the insurance company is willing to pay for them. There is often a small fee from the doctor’s office for copying records. If the adjuster agrees to pay for the records, confirm the agreement in writing. Then request the records yourself and review them before sending them on to the adjuster, removing any records that do not pertain to accident injuries."
"Unfortunately, some adjusters like to get additional medical records just to snoop around in your medical history to see if there is anything they can use against you or use to embarrass you. If the request for additional medical records seems unreasonable -- that is, is not related to the injuries you suffered in the accident -- do not comply. Ask the adjuster to explain why the additional records are needed. If the answer doesn’t convince you, politely inform the adjuster that you do not believe the records are relevant to your claim and that providing them would intrude into your privacy. Remind the adjuster that if the claim winds up in court, the lawyers will be able to argue over this issue, but that at this point you can see no reason to allow prying into your personal medical history. Be firm with the adjuster. There is nothing wrong or suspicious about protecting your privacy."
AND, I repeat for the 3rd or 4th time, this is ONLY STATE DATABASES FOR CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I believe you may be talking about doctor offices. However, I work for an insurance broker. I see what insurance companies access. Now I'm sure when a person fills out an application for life or disability insurance they are giving the insurance company permission however most people aren't aware what that entails. It's not just controlled substances. Like in the case I mentioned above, a perspective client fills out the paperwork, gives permission assuming a drug/blood test is looking for illegal drug use, etc. But if they fail to mention they take Metformin for diabetes.....well having Type 2 diabetes gets you a rating, having Type 1 diabetes gets you a decline and puts them in the high risk insurance groups.
If they fail to mention they take Lexapro, a Benzo, etc. well that will automatically give you a mental/nervous exclusion and possibly a decline depending on how serious your mental health condition is and whether you have lost work because of it.
I'm curious as to why you think it's solely the responsibility of the pharmacy to inform you. You don't think the doctors office had a responsibility to inform you that they would be contacting the pharmacy for your prescription profile? After all they are the ones who initiated the request.
Yes, IMO, either the doctor's office or the pharmacy should have informed me that viewing all prescriptions at a chain pharmacy by any provider would be able to be viewed by any provider. Neither one informed me, or asked for my consent. That's my point. I only found out by accident when the doctor's med ass't was reviewing my prescription meds prior to seeing the doctor. She rattled off several meds looking at her computer, and one was prescribed by an independent dentist a couple months ago. That's when I learned that the doctor's office can see all meds prescribed by a chain pharmacy, even if they were prescribed by another totally independent provider in the past who is not part of that healthcare system.
The issue of pharmacies apparently allowing all providers to see all prescriptions, whether they ordered them or not, brings up another interesting question. I'm not talking about controlled substances. That's an entirely different issue.
Regarding regular prescriptions (not controlled substances), I wonder if pharmacies share information between them, CVS and Walgreens and Walmart pharmacy, for example? Would a doctor have to look up all individual pharmacy databases to see what Rx a patient has filled at any of them in the past, or is there a "merged" database of all Rx for any individual who has filled Rx at any chain pharmacy? If so, this raises all sorts of issues, in my view.
BTW, great discussion about medical records and privacy on this thread!
My wife got a script for 2 1mg tabs of Ativan for a series of scans. Every time she saw a new provider it was “so you take Ativan”? Maybe it sounds silly to some, but she felt uncomfortable. Personally, I don’t care, but some do.
Every time I buy medicine the clerk ask if I have a CVS card. If so the record of what I have just bought goes onto the card data and this info IS NOT protected,I am not happy with this so I do not have a cvs card,,,
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