HIPAA Q & A
[Editor’s note: This is a periodic column that will address specific questions related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) implementation. If you have questions, please send them to the column editor, Sheryl Jackson, Hospital Home Health, American Health Consultants, P.O. Box 740056, Atlanta, GA 30374. Fax: (404) 262-5447. E-mail: [email protected].]
Question: Can we use a different Notice of Privacy Practices than they do in the hospital?
Answer: Yes, says John C. Gilliland II, an Indianapolis attorney specializing in home care. A covered health care provider is only required to have one Notice of Privacy Practices, but it can have more than one if it wants to do so, he adds.
Question: Can we leave messages on our patients’ answering machines?
Answer: According to Gilliland, you can leave messages on a patient’s answering machine if you have complied with the privacy rule’s requirements concerning incidental disclosures and the patient or the patient’s personal representative has not instructed you not to do so.
The privacy rule is not intended to impede customary and essential communications and practices, Gilliland says. "However, in doing so, you must comply with the privacy rule’s incidental disclosure rule," he adds.
That rule permits incidental disclosures (such as someone else hearing the message on the answering machine) as long as you have implemented reasonable safeguards to guard against the incidental disclosure and have complied with the minimum necessary standard, he points out.
This means that when leaving messages on answering machines, you need to limit the amount of information disclosed on the answering machine to only what is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the message, he says.
For example, that could be leaving only your name and number and information necessary to confirm the appointment, or asking the individual to call back, he explains.
The privacy rule permits individuals to request confidential communications. This includes asking that you communicate with them by alternative means or by alternative methods, Gilliland says. "You must accommodate any reasonable request in this regard. So, if a patient asks that you not leave messages on his or her answering machine, you should accommodate that request.
"Do not forget that if you intend to give appointment reminders that must be mentioned in your Notice of Privacy Practices," he says.
"Although not required, it can be useful to also mention how you will give the reminders so individuals are aware of the manner and means you will use unless they request otherwise," Gilliland adds.
[For more information, contact:
• John C. Gilliland II, Attorney, Gilliland & Caudill, LLP, 6650 Telecom Drive, Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN 46278. Telephone and fax: (317) 616-3647. E-mail: [email protected]. Gilliland is the author of HIPAA Privacy Compliance Resource Manual. For information about the manual, go to www.gilliland.com.]
Editors note: This is a periodic column that will address specific questions related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) implementation.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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