RE: "family" phone calls

[James Kelly]

Title: Message

Traci,   I've always believed this to be a 2 step process.  First you must accurately identify (or authenticate) the person you are talking to.  Second, you must determine what right (or authority) the person you are talking to has to receive the information.   Having one password for any admissions in that month would not let you do either one.  I would suggest only releasing PHI to people that the patient has expressly authorized to receive it.    Jim Kelly TPA Computer Corp.   -----Original Message----- From: Traci Winter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 9:44 AM To: WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup List Subject: "family" phone calls Here we go again….. the post committee meeting question.   Our home care agency frequently receives phone calls from patients families and/or caregivers wanting an update on how the patient is doing. Quite often the phone call is a result of a patient's MD appointment and the patient not being able to recall what the doctor has told them. (Our patients are usually elderly) The family members know it is quicker and easier to call our agency and speak to the Case Manager or a Nursing Supervisor rather than to call the doctor's office.   Our debate is this:     How should the nurses receiving these calls handle them? Do they release info to only a POA, health care proxy, designated emergency contact, and/or primary caregiver? Do they not give any information, directing them to talk to their family member….who's lack of recall triggered their call?    Our initial proposal is to provide the patient with a "code" word for a caller to use when contacting our office so we have some indication that they are calling with the patient's knowledge/permission. We discussed setting up a code word of the month list so all patients admitted within that month would have the same code word. The other thought is if they don't have a request for restriction then we are ok to release info to family members or caregivers. (I don't see releases/disclosures such as these covered under TPO but am willing to consider other peoples impressions.   Thanks, Traci Winter Hospitals Home Health Care, Inc. --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org