Page 31 - New Employee Orientation Book

HIPAA
The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Privacy Rule ensures that personal medical information you share with doctors, hospitals and others who provide and pay for healthcare is protected.
WHAT IS CONFIDENTIAL?
All information about patients is considered private or “confidential,” whether written or spoken aloud. This includes their name, address, age, Social Security number and any other personal information. It also includes the reason the patient is sick or hospitalized, the treatments and medications they receive, caregivers’ notes and information about past health conditions.
DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
Most of HIPAA is common sense. Just follow the simple “need to know” rule. If you need to see patient information to perform your job then you are allowed to do so. Even doctors and nurses don’t have the right to look at all the information about every patient. A doctor caring for children has no right to look at the medical records of adult patients unless that doctor is helping care for them.
I COULDN’T HELP OVERHEARING OR SEEING
Not all information is locked up in a file room or protected by passwords on a computer. There is no doubt you will overhear or see private health information as you do your day-to-day job. As long as you keep it to yourself, you have nothing to worry about.
CONFIDENTIALITY
High Quality. High Compassion. 31