The director received a phone call from the circuit court clerk earlier today. S
ID: 414184 • Letter: T
Question
The director received a phone call from the circuit court clerk earlier today. She immediately contacted the ROI(release of information) section and called a mandatory meting for that afternoon. She gave a synopsis of the phone call. She explained that the circuit court clerk was relaying a message from the judge. The message was, "If one more chart is late or does not contain the requested information, the someone is going to have to explain it to mean court! Then if there is not a good reason, I will hold you in contempt of court!" How should the director handle this? Include quality improvement, training and other issues, as appropriate.
Explanation / Answer
Information exchange in the healthcare system is a crucial part to provide state of the art medical facilities to the patient. But the complex medical and legal environment in which these healthcare organization functions, information exchange is not as straightforward as it sounds. Sometimes, a legal obligation from a civil lawsuit may require these healthcare organizations to release information, which are otherwise confidential and private.
Under many law and regulations PHI or Protected Health Information, can only be released to certain people specified by the law. Both Federal and State government have laws in place to protect a person's personal information and also, how much of it can be released and to whom.
Under circumstances such as this one, The Director along with meeting her ROI department should also set a meeting with the Healthcare Compliance Attorney.
A common belief in the healtcare organizations is that subpoenas must be responded with whatever documents or person have been ordered to be presented but such is not the case.
If the court attorney does not have valid authorization, HIPAA discloses confidential healthcare information, only if the subpoena is accompanied by the court order. In this case, the court clerk simply made a call to the director. A subpoena is not an order for purposes of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Any individual or business entity which is called on to produce information that is protected by statute, rule, or contract or which is sensitive for one reason or another should be prepared to ask the attorney to protect that information.