HIPAA Q&A: You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers!
HIM-HIPAA Insider, March 31, 2014
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Submit your HIPAA questions to Editor Jaclyn Fitzgerald at jfitzgerald@hcpro.com and we will work with our experts to provide you with the information you need.
Q. We provide skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care. Our server is secured and encrypted. Providers use their personal accounts to email our directors about their patients who are residents. Family members do this, too. We do not allow anyone to include PHI in their responses because we're concerned about the security of outside servers and the possibility that the email may reach an unintended recipient. Are we doing the right thing?
A. Yes. Using your internal email system to send messages containing PHI is acceptable because your server is secured. Providers should be encouraged to use their internal email accounts to share PHI about patients, assuming they can access these accounts remotely.
Otherwise, patients should be de-identified. For example, you could refer to someone as "the patient in room 301-A" because a room number is not considered identifiable information. Email responses to family members should be general and not include PHI.
For example, it would be acceptable to respond to a family member, "Your mother had a good night and is doing well this morning." If clinical information needs to be communicated, it would be best to do that by telephone or in person.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Related Products
-
Briefings on APCs
Worried about the complexities of the new rules under OPPS and APCs? Briefings on APCs helps you understand the new rules...
-
HIM Briefings
Guiding Health Information Management professionals through the continuously changing field of medical records and toward a...
-
Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies
Submitting improper Medicare documentation can lead to denial of fees, payback, fines, and increased diligence from payers...
-
Briefings on HIPAA
How can you minimize the impact of HIPAA? Subscribe to Briefings on HIPAA, your health information management resource for...
-
APCs Insider
This HTML-based e-mail newsletter provides weekly tips and advice on the new ambulatory payment classifications regulations...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- What to include on the incident report
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Pneumonia with a negative chest x-ray: Clinical diagnoses, physician documentation, and coding guidelines
- Neurological checks for head injuries
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- E-mailed
-
- Coding Clinic reiterates guidelines for provider documentation
- Neurological checks for head injuries
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Know the medical gas cylinder storage requirements
- How inpatient-only procedures apply to CAHs
- Do residents need to be credentialed?
- Coding tip: Learn the difference between nasopharyngoscopy and endoscopy procedures
- Clinically Speaking: Check CDI efforts related to functional quadriplegia
- Clinical Corner: Revisiting respiratory failure
- Can non-privileged providers order outpatient tests?
- Searched
