Is it a HIPAA violation to have a patient sign-in sheet at the front desk of an outpatient facility?
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 6, 2006
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
No. However, you should evaluate your current practices in light of HIPAA's minimum necessary rule. This requires covered entities to use or disclose the minimum amount of information needed to fulfill the disclosure's purpose.
Instead of using one sign-in sheet for all patients coming into the clinic during the day, many clinics now have patients complete a half-sheet form and hand it to the receptionist. The next patient sees only a pad of blank forms, so he or she has no way of knowing what patients have previously come to the clinic. Other clinics have patients fill out a small label, peel it off, and hand it to the receptionist. Both of these practices provide better privacy protections than a full sign-in sheet.
Editor's note: Mary Brandt, president of Bellaire, TX-based Brandt & Associates, LLC, answered this question. This
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Flu shot requirement for hospital employees
- Running an effective peer review committee meeting
- HealthDataInsights posts new issues for medical necessity claims
- Sneak Peek: Effort underway to establish caseload benchmarks
- Q/A: Coding for telescopic intraocular lens
- New FAQ posted on storing laryngoscope blades
- Tip: Perform your own internal investigation prior to government audit
- HIPAA 5010 deadline extended, but threat remains, says AMA
- HHS task force: Consider privacy, security with text messages
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- E-mailed
-
- Running an effective peer review committee meeting
- HIPAA Q&A: Flu shot requirement for hospital employees
- HHS task force: Consider privacy, security with text messages
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Q/A: Coding for telescopic intraocular lens
- Q/A: Correct use of modifier -PT
- Tip: Correctly code bilateral pain management procedures
- "Wall fountains" may be spreading Legionnaires to patients, visitors
- 2012 CPT code changes for ASCs: Shoulder and knee scopes and pain management
- Case Management Monthly, March 2012
- Searched