Health Information Management

Privacy solutions: Kansas hospital uses four-digit code

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, February 2, 2004

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Privacy solutions: Kansas hospital uses four-digit code

Patients and caregivers at the University of Kansas (KU) Hospital, in Kansas City, KS, have gotten used to the hospital's compliance practices, such as the four-digit codes callers must have to obtain information about patients, says patient registrar Pam Nachbar. Callers who don't have a four-digit code can get a one-word description of a patient's condition under the hospital's general release-of-information policy. The new procedures give patients a feeling of control, Nachbar told the Kansas City Star.

Nearby North Kansas City Hospital takes a slightly different approach to protecting patient privacy: Officials there ask patients to designate personal representatives with whom the hospital can share PHI.



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