Hello again, I'm Clayton Vandiver, your Lightkeeper
on the Lightkeepers podcast. Today, HIPAA Part
3. We have more information about the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
An incredibly long title for a very vital, vital
protection that the government offers you. And
that, as we've discovered over the last two conversations,
A lot of folks don't always get that protection.
want to make sure that you live the very best
life possible that's what the light keepers podcast
is all about more information is more power this
conversation is designed to always give you the
very best information that we can come up with
with me our licensed clinical social worker charlene
and thank you for being here today and bringing
back some great hippa information where do we
leave off so we left off talking about an emergency
room scenario um where yes You're in the emergency
room, maybe for yourself or with a loved one,
and the billing person comes in to verify that
billing information on file. Now, like we talked
about before, that billing information is PHI.
That is personal health information that is protected
by HIPAA. So where we left off, we were talking
about how if that person comes in and reads off
that information, and anyone outside of that
room overhears it, that billing person has just
violated your HIPAA information and should be
reported because that can be dangerous. And yet
it's so... Commonplace. They don't think of it.
Correct. They're getting things done in a very
fast, very efficient, got to get it done, life
and death, it's critical, it's the emergency
room, it's a trauma center. And you're not thinking
of, well, there's this legal issue that I might
be creating, but I need to be efficiently cut
through all of that. Doesn't matter. Doesn't
matter. Anytime, anytime a professional shortcuts
around HIPAA, they are putting the patient at
risk of medical identity theft. And that's a
very big risk. And people don't fully understand.
Like I said, if that billing person comes in,
or even a nurse comes in and verifies date of
birth and name, if it is not done in a protected
manner where others cannot overhear, that is
a HIPAA violation. That's protected information.
But if they come in and say, can you tell me
your information, and you provide it with other
people being able to hear, You have just given
implied consent for your information to be shared.
So by voicing it yourself, you actually provide...
It is not... You violated your own HIPAA. And
didn't even know it. Well, that's very important
information, not only for the individual to be
aware of, but for the medical professional...
To be mindful of. A show that we're very... We
enjoy watching has a line that's popular that...
Details matter. In an investigation, details
matter. In an investigation, details matter.
Well, in life in general, details matter. Especially
where your privacy, in today's day and time,
when electronic means allow people to violate
your information, to assume your identity, to
assume your medical identity, and basically use...
your information for criminal purposes so easily
and seeing the challenge there is a lot of the
health field a lot of these institutions do not
use the complicated algorithms that financial
institutions use that protects that data until
those protections are put into place that data
is going to be vulnerable to hacking and it we
don't need to make it even more vulnerable by
letting that information loose in areas where
there could be someone with an ulterior motive.
By just sloppy activity. Exactly. And anyone
with an ulterior motive or just an opportunist
who says, hey, I just heard something I can use,
steps up. Now, I was giving an example in the
last one that someone could be using nefarious
motives. to say, I've got a little bit of a stomachache,
not really, and then go into a busy trauma or
emergency center where their small little issue
that doesn't appear life -threatening is going
to be put on a back burner. They'll be parked
somewhere in a hallway on a little gurney, and
they'll be able to relax there sometimes for
hours while they sit and listen to people come
and go, all being... HIPAA violated all around
them while they record on their cell phone. I
don't want to give people ideas of things to
do, but I do want to give medical personnel ideas
of things to look out for. And it doesn't even
have to be that complicated. I personally have
had my credit card information stolen. When a
server took my card back to the cash register,
had it sitting next to the cash register while
she rung up the ticket, and someone sitting there
at the counter took a picture of my credit card
and used it successfully. So it wasn't the waiter
or waitress. Correct. It was someone nearby with
an opportunity. If someone can do that with a
credit card, all they've got to do is snap a
picture of your health insurance or even get
a... A recording. A recording of your health
insurance information. Of someone repeating it.
And boom, they've got you. Now you had mentioned
that if you mention your health insurance information.
Implied consent. If you voice your own name,
your address, confirm your birth date. Implied
consent. Now you've given that protected information
out, but that's implied consent. And even if
it's recorded by someone else. You're speaking
it yourself. So that you've released and they
can steal it. If they use it, then it's still
a violation. But the medical team, but you can't
accuse the medical team at that point of violating
your HIPAA because you yourself have violated
it. But if that medical professional, that billing
person comes in and reads your information off,
that is a HIPAA violation. And so to that end,
I have two suggestions to the community. First
of all, when you go into a medical facility and
they ask you for HIPAA -protected information,
politely, nobody needs to be a Karen, politely
say, that is protected information, let me write
that down for you. Because now you're providing
it in writing, nobody's hearing it, it's protected,
and you've alerted the person behind the desk
that... you care about your HIPAA -protected
information. That's important. Whenever we can
enforce or reinforce our own protections, our
own rights, our own wishes, it's always a good
thing. Advocate for yourself. And that's the
social worker speaking, because they'd like to
be there for you, advocating for you. That's
what they do. But if they cannot be... And if
you do not have a family member who can look
out for you. Now, if you go into an emergency
room or a treatment center and you're lightheaded,
maybe you're even passed out, you may provide
information. You may have been injured. You don't
realize that you're in a compromised situation,
and you may provide information before you know
it. That's why it's important to have a family
member or some companion with you. Now, the other
suggestion is... Not going to make me any friends
in the medical world, but if you are in an emergency
room or a hospital or a medical setting and you
hear a staff member divulge someone else's PHI,
their personal health information, if you overhear
that, report them because that needs to change.
The only way it's going to change is if people
start getting in trouble for it. And they do
get in trouble. There are fines, there are penalties,
and one physician even spent time in jail. And
there's a very big difference between a Karen
who's complaining frivolously and a whistleblower
who sees something that needs to be improved
in a system and takes action to see that it is.
And we have to go on. We'll do another episode.
Hold on. That can be reported to the Office of
Civil Rights for Health and Human Services. Thank
you. Thank you. And I'll even put a link below
for that for anyone who might want to jot it
down, have it handy for any time you're in a
medical situation. We're going to have to talk
more about some of the scenarios that we've talked
about in the past. Let's get into the medical
identity theft. Let's do that on our next episode.
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I'm Clayton Vandiver, your light keeper. Bye
for now.