HIPAA Q&A: You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers!
HIM-HIPAA Insider, November 23, 2015
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Submit your HIPAA questions to Associate Editor Nicole Votta at nvotta@hcpro.com and we will work with our experts to provide you with the information you need.
Q: Is patient scheduling considered coordination of treatment under HIPAA? We have some administrative staff who can read patients' medical records. However, this doesn't seem to adhere to minimum use guidelines under HIPAA, because the administrative schedulers do not need the medical record information to complete their tasks. I'm thinking the staffers shouldn't have access to the information, but rather the information should just be sent encrypted to practitioners. Which practice is most appropriate under HIPAA?
A: You are absolutely correct that access to PHI should be role-based and limited to what is necessary to do the job. Schedulers in many organizations obtain prior authorizations or have other needs for PHI (for instance, sending records to the consulting provider), and would need access to PHI to schedule appointments. If yours don't need it, they shouldn't have it. In addition, encryption is always the best way to send information where it needs to go.
Editor's note: Chris Simons, MS, RHIA, HIM Director and Privacy Officer, Maine General Medical Center, Augusta, Maine, answered this question for HCPro’s HIM Briefing (formerly Medical Records Briefing) newsletter. This information does not constitute legal advice. Consult legal counsel for answers to specific privacy and security questions.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Residency coordinators’ responsibilities
- Study: Shorter shifts reduces residents’ attentional failures
- RPA Subscriber Exclusive: February issue of Residency Program Alert now available
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Editor’s note
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Prevent dehydration with nursing interventions
- E-mailed
-
- White Paper: Postacute CDI: An Introduction to Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals
- Use modifiers -59, -91 to "explain" duplicate codes
- Tim Porter-O'Grady sounds off
- Q: Can you clarify the reporting of dates on the plan of care for diagnosis onset and exacerbation?
- ICD-10-CM coma, stroke codes require more specific documentation
- Fracture coding in ICD-10-CM requires greater specificity
- Eight tips to improve MRI throughput
- Searched