HIPAA???

[ASEMS]

Scenario:
Arrive on scene of a single vehicle accident. Unable to locate patient (dark, possible ejection into field) Through the license plates, the owner of the vehicle is identified.

Question:
A member of the EMS crew knew the owner of the vehicle, proceeded to call a friend to ask if the owner had been seen.

Was this a HIPAA violation? Turns out the driver fled the scene, so he was never a patient at any point in time.

 

[RocketMedic]

Not a HIPAA violation. One could argue it is both patient care related and not actually related to patients in general. Would it be a privacy violation to call your wife and ask if she'd seen you if your car was found empty and upside down?

 

[Chimpie]

Not a HIPAA violation.

I concur. And I'll add my comments as "HIPAA" is the new Kleenex or Scotch Tape - a term everyone uses for PHI - Protected Health Information.

No protected health information is known about the unknown driver (remember, at this point you really don't know who was driving the vehicle - a friend, a thief, etc.) so no protected health information can be given.

Would a police officer making the same call be in any violation? Nope.

 

[DrParasite]

Would a police officer making the same call be in any violation? Nope.

But police officers don't have under the HIPAA requirements, and they routinely breach the confidentiality requirements because they are held to different standards, at least compared to healthcare providers and EMS

Was this a HIPAA violation? Turns out the driver fled the scene, so he was never a patient at any point in time.

Do you think this was a HIPAA violation? if so why? if not, why not?

 

[truetiger]

Lets apply some common sense here...this is not a violation of any sorts. We just had our annual HIPAA seminar with our district's lawyer. He was asked about several situations like this. He was also asked if anyone has every been prosecuted. To his knowledge, no providers have been prosecuted or sued under HIPAA while ACTING IN GOOD FAITH.

 

[CALEMT]

Through the license plates, the owner of the vehicle is identified.

Public information. Not a HIPAA violation.