Consent form for the "Medical Privacy Act"

[geegee]

I went to my doctor last week and after checking in with the receptionist, I was handed a new form explaining the rules of this latest bit of government intrusion into my private life. The essence of it was that under this new act, the government has some new ways to check into your personal and medical history. I refused to sign it.

When my name was called to see the doc, I handed the form back to the receptionist, who said "Sir, you didn't sign this form." "No, I didn't" I said, "And I'm not going to." She looked shocked, turned around to ask another receptionist what to do, who then walked over to a nurse, who then asked another nurse how to handle this.

The last nurse walked over to explain that unless I sign it, and if there was a medical problem with me that required a call to our house, they could only leave a phone number of their office, and not give my wife any more information. My response was that that was ok with me, but my greater concern was the sharing of information from my medical records with other government (state and federal) and private agencies. "Oh no, we'd never do that," said the nurse. "Really?" I said. "It seems like the way this is worded sure provides for a great many exceptions to those rules." She just stood there and said nothing, and I went to a waiting room.

After my exam was over, the receptionist actually apologized to me. "Not our idea...we're not trying to be ugly." I told her not to worry about it, I never thought it was her idea.

Have any of you folks gone through this yet, and if so, how did you handle it? geegee

 

[Justin]

Kinda funny how that new law that is supposed to protect your privacy protects it from everyone but the gov't, eh?

Moving to Legal and Political.

 

[Sindawe]

Yep, ran into this last week at the dentist. Got the form, read through it, then checked the box they provided indicating that I refused to sign the form. No hassles with the receptionist, no hassles with the dentist.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Government protection of our privacy always reminds me of foxes guarding the hen house.

 

[Waitone]

What I find interesting is during the run-up to the law taking effect Big Media passed the law off as a tightening of privacy rules. At the same time alternative media was screaming the law was big brother at work.

 

[BOBE]

As a volunteer at a local hospital, I man an information desk. You wouldn't believe some of the things we have to do to insure patient privicy. Some more Bill and Hillery stuff that shouldn't be wished on anyone. The real bad part is that if you don't follow the letter, not the intent of the law there are all kinds of goodies waiting for you like fines up to as much as $30,000. and or jail time. Next time you see a medical worker, tell them how much you appreciate them putting up with this mess.:banghead:

 

[geegee]

Next time you see a medical worker, tell them how much you appreciate them putting up with this mess.

Like my wife says, "Love a Nurse"! geegee

 

[Okiecruffler]

It's called HIPPA

And just be glad you don't work in the medical field. I just had to sit thru a 4 hour class that basically informed me that I couldn't give pt information to people who didn't need it. Thank God, I was just discussing a patient with the mailman yesterday. What really chaps me, is that the government has time to make all these new rules, but it doesn't seem to mind that my tax dollars are being whizzed away by Medicaid pts using the ED as their personal clinic. Or white trash speed freaks having their 4th child that my hospital has to spend thousands of dollars caring for, while the goverment takes more of MY money to give to her and her GROWING family.

Sorry, yesterday was payday. I always get testy after seeing my check, or lack there of.:banghead:

 

[TonyB]

I work in 2 Pharmacies and the HIPPA law is dumb.
1)it's all stuff we did or didn't do anyway
2)people don't or won't understand it.
3)it the government REALLY wanted health info about you,they could ALWAYS get it,form or no form.
4)even if you don't sign the form,according to HIPPA,you will be taken care of anyway..........
5)the training I had for one job (w/ the state)was way confusing.Lots of initials and huge terms....just say"look,if they don't NEED to know ,don't tell them."Just like always.....:banghead:

 

[Khornet]

HIPPAA is a monstrosity

which will accomplish two things only: the waste of more money, and the killing of more trees.

Any one of my patients who refuses to sign is welcome. And remember, the only one bound by a deal between you and the Govt. is YOU. Ask Geronimo. Ask Sitting Bull.

 

[cuchulainn]

I agree with everyone who says HIPAA is a complex mess.

However, HIPAA gives the government no power that it did not aready have to get information about you.

Zip. Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

HIPAA does however, protect the powers the government already had. For example, if a judge issues a subpoena to get your medical records, the doctor can give it to the court. HIPAA does not compel the doctor to give the information. Rather, HIPAA just says that the doctor will not be in violation of HIPAA if he complies with an already existing government power

Again, that's not an endorsement of HIPAA, just a clarification.



HIPAA = Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The funny thing is that if you read the law, its purpose is to standardize insurance forms in order to make insurance "portable" from one carrier to another. All these privacy rules are HHS's interpretation of what's needed to do that.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I recommend the excercise of signature refusal...

Practice it early and often.

If you think about it, there are a great many things that people want you to sign, or information that they want to collect that is never to your benefit .

I delight in finding such opportunities.

People need to practice NO much more frequently.

Here in NJ, (oddly enough) it seems that so many people refuse to give information to check out clerks when they ask for your name or phone number that the clerks no longer question it, which wasn't the case about 3,4 years ago, when an eyebrow would always be raised.

The most recent exception was in Florida. My wife bought a $10 cleaning kit at a sunglass hut type place. The clerk pecked at his cash register, and asked our name and address, ignoring the $20 I was holding out to him.

Out of habit, she just said, "no." The poor feller looked at us as if we had 9 heads. We looked back at him as if he had 50 heads. I explained, "It's simple. we just want to pay, and leave. Here's our money, I've been holding it in the air for at least a minute."

So, remember a new mantra.

"If the person or organization asking for the information has no legitimate need to know, tell them nothing."

"If signing the form can never be of benefit to you, just don't sign it. Acknowledge nothing."

(Fair warning: some states, like MD disallow refusing acknowledgement signatures on traffic tickets, and allow the LEO to take you in for refusing. In that case, signing is most definately of benefit to you: you get to go home)

 

[JohnBT]

We aren't making anyone sign anything. My experience with HIPPA has been completely different so far.

I work for the state government and have seen clients and handled medical records on a daily basis for 29 years.

We were sent an e-mail with some pages to read HIPPA and then had to take a very short on-line quiz. We work with individuals with disabilities.

The way HIPPA was presented to us: You are all going to jail for a long time and pay big fines if you ever goof and let anybody see any of the paperwork in the office. No walking away from your desk without locking your door, no leaving mail unguarded in the mailroom and no talking in your office with the door open because someone might overhear. We have always tried to be sensitive to our clients, but the threat of jail time is a bit much.

We, the worker bees, really have been pretty good with this over the years, but management has let some things go - like putting the outgoing mail on the reception counter where anyone can see the clients' addresses on the appointment letters. Some of our other offices require clients to sign in at the front desk before seeing their counselor or evaluator, etc. The lists are there for anyone to see.

Both janitors have master keys, so I asked how I can maintain security in my office. I was told to lock the files I'm working on in my file cabinet. Can I get a file cabinet with a lock? Nope. No budget for it this year. Then they suggested locking them in the file room. Well, only one of the two doors have locks. I would lock them in my desk, but my desk doesn't have a lock either.

Love the clients, love the work...then there's the government.

John

 

[cuchulainn]

oops. posted in wrong thread