HIPAA Alert: Safeguarding Written Information

The majority of HIPAA breaches occur due to accidental disclosures of protected health information (PHI) through mishandling of paper records.

Recent examples at Methodist include:

• Wrong visit summary handed to patients at check-out.

• Patient roster stapled to a patient’s visit summary.

• Lab results for one patient put in another patient’s envelope.

• Patient billing statement sent to wrong person or wrong address.

• Patient rosters / census dropped in parking lot or left at non-Methodist businesses.

• Medical records sent to the wrong fax number.

Identify the areas in your workflow where mistakes are most likely to occur. Then work with your manager to create a system that ensures separation of patient information and quick identification of any errors.

Questions?

To learn more about safeguarding written information, contact HIPAA Privacy Officer Tracy Durbin at (402) 354-4901.