So, I paint houses and sometimes commercial buildings and offices and such. In the past I have painted doctor’s offices and vaguely remember it being sort of a deal that cabinets or shelves where patient records were kept stay off-limits or locked.
A couple of months ago, my crew and I painted the inside of a home for a doctor. She and her husband were gone working all day, but her 10-year-old son, some of his friends, and a teenage baby-sitter were there. Also four of us painting.
Every day during the week we were there, stacks of manila folders with patients’ names stickied on the tabs were sprawled on the kitchen table. Various records, notes, big envelopes with images (xray, CT, MRI)…stacks of them. I paid them no particular attention (apart from recognising what they were and musing about the ethics of leaving them sitting around like that) - is this kosher? For all I know, there were possibly sensitive records regarding mental health, addiction, abuse, etc belonging to, I don’t know, local politicians or somebody I know or whatever. (I have no clue, we never looked at them.)
Seemed odd to me. Is this really an OK thing to do? Doesn’t it violate HIPPA laws? She is a family doctor. And if it makes a difference, this is in Michigan.
I’m really looking for factual answers; if mods think this might wander into IMHO territory please move as appropriate. Thanks.
I would think they would have an legal obligation to keep these documents from prying eyes, but it’s not like just anyone could see them.
Were they kept someplace where patients or random members of the public could see them?
If they were kept in a room that was private to them or their family that might be considered secure enough… although it still sounds kind of dodgy to me.
Well, not entirely random members of the public I guess, but theoretically patients or people who knew patients whose records were heaped on the dining room table. I mean, she didn’t know who the three people working with me were; any of us could have gone through the records. The house was unlocked while we were there for a week…they had lawn people and sprinkler system people working outside but any of them could have wandered in and nobody would have been the wiser.
As a general rule it is frowned upon to take paper records out of the office. If done, say to complete charting at night or to review a case for the next day, the same security precautions should be taken as in the office. Kitchen table accessible to unsupervised children of the house, their friends, painters, etc., does not meet that standard.
That is how records end up lost. Dr. takes them home to chart; Dr.'s kids or friend knocks something over on it and “hides” it so he won’t get in trouble. Records should never leave the building.
The doctor is in direct violation of HIPPA regulations, and could be subject to legal action because of it.
Even the doctor’s appointment schedule is covered, as are any patient notes, or test results, or correspondence relating to any patient care.
The doctor is also at risk of exposure to law suits on all of it, should the information be obtained by anyone without release documentation from the patient.
Thanks for the information, I figured it wasn’t right.
It just occured to me I should add that I don’t plan to say anything to anyone about this - for all I know the folders were filled with blank sheets of paper. I asked this question here anonymously instead of asking other doctors I know, because I didn’t want to inadvertently or wrongly get someone in trouble.