My son recently made application for health insurance. In the process, he discovered that the general healthcare clinic here has an incorrect entry in their records for him.
He’d like to get this fixed. I’m assuming he can write to the clinic and request that, but I’m not sure how easy or difficult it is, or what it might entail. I’m going to call the clinic on Monday, but I’d like to know if anyone else has had to do this, what steps you took, and if you had sucess with it.
The error: there is apparently an entry stating that my son “was diagnosed with X” by “Dr. Y”. Problem is, son has never been diagnosed with “X” by anyone, and “Dr. Y” isn’t a medical doctor. Also “Dr. Y” has nothing to do with this clinic. I’m thinking that the error was probably due to a misunderstanding of some discussion my son had with one of the clinic doctors. I found it quite odd that the entry existed in the first place.
Well, there was the time someone had misfiled something in my folder that caused my OB/Gyn to greet me with a cheery “So, your husband’s had a vasectomy!” They seemed to have no problem clearing that up after I went :dubious:
Sort of. It was a while ago, so my knowledge of the rules and regs has faded considerably.
Plus, my situation was rather different from your son’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if a phone call and/or a letter would be all it took to correct what is an obvious mistake in your son’s file.
At the very least, however, if they are unwilling to make the change, you (or your son) should be able to send a letter addressing the situation and have it included in the file. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’s something to show that you have tried to correct the situation.
HIPAA regs allow you write a letter explaining the error to be included in the chart. In this situation, since it appears to be an error rather than a misinterpretation, you may be able to get the note amended. If at least one of these doesn’t happen, you can contact the clinic’s HIPAA compliance officer, though that probably won’t be necessary.
