Leslie - I agree with your approach. However, let me play devil's advocate on the last part of your message - Suppose I am a cardiologist, and am seeing a new patient in my office. In talking to the patient I discover the patient was recently seen at your hospital - I call over to the hospital and ask for a copy of the EKG. I need this information for treatment purposes - however, I was not involved in the patient's recent hospitalization.
Based on your approach, I will need to get an authorization from the patient, fax it over to HIM at the hospital and then get the EKG. I fully understand your reasoning. But this is a covered entity requesting information for treatment. The commentary also states that information can be released to individuals to the extent they are involved in the care of the patient. Personally, I do not think the authorization is necessary. My concern is that the approach you outlined could potentially delay the delivery of care to patients. What if the roles were reversed? What if I am a physician and do not have staff privileges at your hospital and am not part of an OHCA? A patient of mine is hospitalized at your facility, and the hospital calls my office asking about medical history, etc. - I then say, sorry you will have to get an authorization from the patient and fax it over to get the information - It certainly will not make the busy RN or staff physician very happy. Like I said, I am not disagreeing with your approach, just playing devil's advocate. Dan Kelsey Practice Advisor Indiana State Medical Association -----Original Message----- From: Harpe, Leslie [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 3:15 PM To: WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup List Subject: section 164.514(d)(3)(iii)(B) Your opinions on the following scenario: A patient is seen in the ER last night. Dr. A ordered labs. Dr. B calls the lab for the results today. Lab only knows the ordering doctor. Based on the fact that Dr. B knows labs were ordered and according to section 164.514(d)(3)(iii)(B), we are going to release the lab results without an authorization. We believe that this is continuum of care and we are releasing to another covered entity. (No disclosure is required either.) If each department identifies who can release the info, the minimum they can release for routine disclosure and develop criteria for non-routine disclosures, this should be an acceptable practice. Page 82545 also supports this interpretation. My notice also informs the patient that we will do this as continuum of care. Once the chart is received by medical records though, we will require an authorization if the physician is not on record. I hope this is right, if not, we'd better start planting more trees to support the tremendous mounds of paperwork. Thanks, Leslie Harpe Privacy Official South Georgia Medical Center Valdosta, GA 31603-1727 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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: [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
