Interesting question. I'd back up and first reconsider are the pictures in and of themselves PHI? If the picture includes enough of an individual's face then I guess it is possible that someone could identify the subject of the picture if they recognized them by their face. But just a person's identity by itself is not PHI. There has to be something else disclosed that involves the past, present, or future, medical condition, treatment, etc. Even if the picture does show the patient's face, does the person developing the picture know they are developing picutres from a health care provider and that they are specifically developing pictures of a patient?
The same goes for the pictures that are developed at the local pharmacy by the nursing staff. How does anyone know that the pictures being developed are of patients and not the nurse's children or nieces and nephews? This is similar to a question I asked this list serv a while ago about pictures of patients on the walls of doctor's offices. I have a few clients who have treated atheletes or astronauts and they have been given pictures by these patients to hang on their office walls. Some of the picture have nothing other than the patient's signature/autograph. Others have inscirptions such as "Dear Doctor Smith, thanks for the excellent care". If the picture only has an autograph or signature, I think it is OK. People might assume from the picture that the photograph is of a patient but how do they know it is not just a friend or in the case of atheletes, maybe the doctor is just a fan? If the picture has an inscription like the one I cited above, that specifically recognizes the doctor-patient relationship, then I think it crosses the line and becomes a disclosure of PHI. Those pictures should come down or have the patient sign an authorization. Noel Chang Integral Practice Solutions -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) ---------- Original Message ----------- From: "Oriol, Albert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 19:17:19 -0700 Subject: developing pictures > Here's a good one I had not heard to date. We often take photos. > Most of the ones that are taken for medical reasons require quality > developing and thus are developed in-house or taken to a top notch shop > > (with whom, I'd think if needed we could have a BA agreement in > place) -- Question, what do you all think, assuming the pictures > will show identifying information? > > The other situation is that of pictures taken for projects for our > kids, or for some newsletter. We're a kid's hospital and for > instance we might want to have kids build something with their > picture to give mom for mother's day. These types of pictures most > likely just get developed at whatever pharmacy happens to be on the > way of a nurse's or other professional's way home. How should we > handle those? Take all our pictures to the place(s) we have BA's in > place and only there? > > a. > > > > DISCLAIMER: > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this message > is legally privileged and confidential information intended for the > use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this > message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent > responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby > notified that any release, dissemination, distribution, or copying > of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received > this communication in error, please notify the author immediately by > replying to this message and delete the original message. Thank you. > > --- > 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 ------- End of Original Message ------- --- 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
