Health Law Blog - Healthcare Legal Issues

Archive for March, 2018

Faxing Patient Health Information to Wrong Number – Compliance Risk Area

Tuesday, March 13th, 2018

Physician Revises Faxing Procedures to Safeguard PHI After Faxing PHI to Employer  by Mistake

faxing phi wrong numberA medical office recently settled with OCR after it allegedly disclosed a patient’s HIV status when the office mistakenly faxed medical records to the patient’s place of employment instead of to the patient’s new health care provider.  The employee responsible for the disclosure received a written disciplinary warning, and both the employee and the physician apologized to the patient.  To resolve this matter, OCR also required the practice to revise the office’s fax cover page to underscore a confidential communication for the intended recipient. The office informed all its employees of the incident and counseled staff on proper faxing procedures.

Two things pop about about this instance.  First, this was clearly a privacy violation.  The patient’s protected health information, which incidentally revealed his or her HIV status, we sent to the employer.  Secondly, it was evident from the facts that this was a mistake.  We aren’t told exactly how this mistake was made.  Was the fax number written down in the wrong box on the patient’s records?  Did the employee who faxed the records put the incorrect number on the fax cover sheet?  We may never know.  But this does raise the importance of being precise at all stages of the patient encounter to assure that no inadvertent violations occur.  Care you should be taken when information about the patient is initially entered into the system.  Individuals at all levels who may be responsible for transmitting PHI must be deliberate about their actions.  How many people have called or faxed something to the wrong person before?  How many people have written down the wrong telephone or fax number before?  Everyone?

This OCR settlement just illustrates that sometimes these small errors can have big implications.  It does not appear to have been any significant fines or loss of employment in this situation.  But we cannot downplay the potential embarrassment or other negative consequences of mistakes like these.  It is one thing to text your friend Bob rather than your friend Bobbie, and weirdly from Bob’s perspective say how wonderful last night was and how you can’t wait to see him again.  Telling a patient’s employer about their health condition can have consequences that are much harder to laugh off.

RCS-1 Model Worksheet Gives a Glimpse of a World Without RUG

Monday, March 12th, 2018

RCS-1 Sample Worksheet

Time Is Running Out on RUG System for Skilled Nursing Facility Reimbursement

It is currently anticipated that the RUG system, which is currently used to calculate reimbursement for Medicare Part A skilled nursing services, will be changed over the next year.  CMS is currently considering a new Resident Classification System that will completely change the way SNFs are reimbursed for their services.

Providers are getting glimpses of what may be included in the new calculation system.  CMS issued a draft sample worksheet using the RCS-1 system.  The stated purpose is to give providers a description of how the new system would work.  The worksheet gives a description of how a manual calculation would take place using the RCS-I methodology.

The sample draft worksheet that was issued by CMS is available here.  RCS_I_Logic-508_Final

Patient Access to Medical Records Created by Another Provider

Wednesday, March 7th, 2018

Private Practice Provides Access to All Records, Regardless of Source

A private practice denied an individual access to his records on the basis that a portion of the individual’s record was created by a physician not associated with the practice. While the amendment provisions of the Privacy Rule permit a covered entity to deny an individual’s request for an amendment when the covered entity did not create that the portion of the record subject to the request for amendment, no similar provision limits individuals’ rights to access their protected health information. Among other steps to resolve the specific issue in this case, OCR required the private practice to revise its access policy and procedures to affirm that, consistent with the Privacy Rule standards, patients have access to their record regardless of whether another entity created information contained within it.

John H. Fisher

Health Care Counsel
Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C.
500 First Street, Suite 8000
P.O. Box 8050
Wausau, WI 54402-8050

Tel 715.845.4336
Fax 715.845.2718

Ruder Ware is a member of Meritas Law Firms Worldwide

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