Re: HIPAA VIOLATION

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On 1/27/07, employee wrote:
> A Medical Director, (employed by a hospital) of a
specialty
> clinic has the the responsibility of the overall running
> and building of a this clinic which is located inside the
> hospital building- an integrated health care facility. It
> came to the Medical director's attention that the clinic
> was not being used to capacity, as some docs (also
> employees of the hospital) were referring patients other
> institutions. To investigate one such case, the Medical
> director reviewed the records of a patient who was
referred
> to a similar specialty clinic of another institution, to
> ascertain the reason for the referral and underutilization
> of the services of the specialty clinic located within the
> hospital. The patient had not been seen by the medical
> director of this clinic for treatment or consult. When no
> valid reason was found for such a referral (eg, patient
> request, continuity of care if previously seen at other
> facility for the smae problem), the Medical Director
raised
> the concern of under-utilization of the specialty clinic
in
> a internal meeting so that this problem would cease if the
> issue of under-utilization was ackowledged and corrected.
>
> HIPAA provides for exceptions to the privacy rules for
> clinical treatment and certain healthcare administrative
> functions. Did the Medical Director commit a HIPAA
> violation?
>
>

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