Don't go there

With technology ever present and audit tables and cameras everywhere, it just does not pay to snoop as you will more than likely be caught if it is outside the parameters of your job.  This article goes on to compare how banking handles privacy as well, something for all in the health care industry to think about.  BD

Now, the human tendency to pry has been given super powers through technology, causing unease about the ramifications of increasing personal transparency.  And while a hospital may seem the most likely place where such privacy can be violated, the same data that are illegal for hospitals to divulge can surface in places unrelated to a patient's medical care through hospital vendors -- such as computer technicians -- or in lawsuits.

A Health and Human Services law that will go into effect Aug. 1 includes a provision allowing doctors to bypass filling out forms that limit access to patient records kept by another physician, said Rich Neumeister, a privacy rights activist.

For example, a chiropractor could request medical files of a patient from another doctor and receive mental health records, even though the patient didn't intend to reveal them, he said. 

If a worker at a company that has nothing to do with medical information sues over an on-the-job injury, that company then gets access to the person's medical history. So does Nolan's law firm, which is also responsible for keeping the data private.

Although technology has made snooping more immediate and potentially harmful, Tanick said he is just as likely to see a case in which the snooper is a clinic receptionist who simply blabbed about a client to friends.

"Good, old-fashioned, low-tech gossip," he said.

Don't go there