Q&A: Staff members viewing their own or their family member's records
Physician Practice Insider, December 30, 2014
A: Accessing the records of family members without a legitimate business need may well be a breach, but a staff member accessing his or her own records may not be. If there is no legitimate reason for accessing family member records, that would be a breach of unsecure protected health information (PHI).
A number of covered entities (CE) have implemented policies requiring employees to access their own medical records in the same way as all other patients—by submitting a written request and having the record copied or setting up a time for the employee to view his or her own record. Having an employee view his or her own record is not a breach of unsecure PHI. However, it may be a violation in the CE's policy and result in sanctions.
Editor’s note: Chris Apgar, CISSP, president of Apgar & Associates, LLC, in Portland, Oregon, answered this question for HCPro’s Briefings on HIPAA newsletter.
Related Products
-
Physician Practice Perspective
Physician Practice Perspective subscribers can find the archive of issues on the Part B News website. Find more information...
-
Medical Environment Update
A subscription to Medical Environment Update pays for itself by saving you time sorting through complex regulations and...
-
HealthLeaders Media Physician Leaders
HealthLeaders Media Physician Leaders offers commentaries that focus on the hottest issues for doctors as well as concise...
-
Medical Environment Update - Electronic and Print, 1 year
A subscription to Medical Environment Update pays for itself by saving you time sorting through complex regulations and...
-
Medical Environment Update - Electronic, 1 year
A subscription to Medical Environment Update pays for itself by saving you time sorting through complex regulations and...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Complications from immobility by body system
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- CDC alert: Screen for international travel as Ebola cases increase
- E-mailed
-
- CDC alert: Screen for international travel as Ebola cases increase
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- Q&A: Bill blood administration the same way for inpatient and outpatient accounts
- Q&A: A second look at encephalopathy as integral to seizures/CVA
- Performing a SWOT analysis
- Leadership training for charge nurses
- Helping Charge Nurses understand their leadership role (Part 2 of 3)
- Developing a Fall-Prevention Program
- Coding, billing, and documentation tips for teaching physicians, interns, residents, and students
- Coding tip: Watch for different codes for SI joint injections
- Searched