HIPAA Q&A: Sharing a patient's PHI
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, January 4, 2010
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Q. A staff member recognizes an acquaintance, realizes the acquaintance is a patient in the hospital, and shares this information with someone else. Has the staff member violated HIPAA?
A. The answer is yes if the staff member shared this information for reasons not related to his or her job. Recognizing the patient would be considered an incidental disclosure. Disclosing this information to another person, however, would be considered an inappropriate release of PHI.
Editor’s note: Chris Apgar, CISSP, answered this question. This is not legal advice. Consult your attorney regarding legal matters.
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