TBT Thursday Troubleshooter: Revisiting your HIPAA questions
Today’s TBT Troubleshooter revisits your HIPAA questions from the last few months. HIPAA is an important topic that generates many questions among dental professionals, because no one wants to break the rules regarding patient privacy. Thursday Troubleshooter received four questions that we thought we’d rerun for TBT in order to help you in your practice.
In the most popular HIPAA question, a former RDH asks if it’s a HIPAA violation for her to contact a past patient to let her know that she enjoyed treating her, and to let her know where she’s currently working. HIPAA expert Olivia Wann sets the record straight.
This RDH went directly against the dentist’s reprimands and made copies of patient records and took them home, after she was told not to. The incident led to her termination. What obligation does the practice have to report the incident to the licensing board? Linda Harvey, Paul Edwards, and Nathan Massey weigh in on the incident and how the practice can address HIPAA.
Is it a HIPPA violation to have a patient’s entire name printed out on the radiograph? Attorney Karen Darnall helps from a legal perspective, and Linda Harvey weighs in from a practice management point of view. See what they have to say.
Finally, Marianne Harper and Rick Kuwahara help this front office manager determine what her dental practice can share about its patients with another dental practice without breaking any HIPAA rules.
Did this help? Do you still have HIPAA questions? Send them to Thursday Troubleshooter at [email protected] and we'll ask the experts what you need to do.
Do you have other types of questions you'd like to have addressed? The experts are on standby to tackle just about anything. Just send your question our way. If it's bothering you, it's worth addressing to make your work life easier.
RECENT THURSDAY TROUBLESHOOTERS:
Dental practice needs letter stating risks of partial treatment
Is this dental assistant extremely underpaid?
Codes D4341 and D4342, and new code for treating gingivitis
Send your questions for the experts to answer. Responses will come from various consultants, many of whom are associated with Speaking Consulting Network, Academy of Dental Management Consultants, Dental Consultant Connection, and other expert dental support organizations. Their members will take turns fielding your questions on DentistryIQ, because they are very familiar with addressing the tough issues. Hey, it's their job.
Send your questions to [email protected]. All inquiries will be answered anonymously every Thursday here on DIQ.
