Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#31

Post by buildsjets » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:49 PM UTC

The P in HIPAA stands for Portability, not Privacy. The primary purpose of HIPAA is not to prevent the sharing of confidential patient data, it is to ENABLE the sharing of confidential patient data with anyone who has the right to see it. The issue is the number of entities who claim that they have right to see the data, and the lack of a mechanism for the individual to prevent their information from being shared.

Should Facebook have a right to access your health data? Your opinion does not matter, they wanted it, and they got it. What about the US Department of Transportation? They maintain the right to access the electronic medical records of any person who falls under their regulation, such as pilots and truck drivers. They have been know to go on fishing expeditions trolling through medical records in search of violations. Search for Operation Safe Pilot. I know several people who have either avoided medical treatment because of this issue, or obtained treatment in a foreign country.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#32

Post by tekla » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

swayvil wrote: post #17

My friend spent the night in the hospital recently, for observation. She didn't sleep a wink. With all the beeping and alarms and periodic checks and procedures. Mostly involving her roommate. The next morning she was mentally and physically wrecked. the first thing she told the nurse was, "I want to go home so I can get some sleep. The nurse laughs and replies, "I hear that all the time. Nobody ever sleeps here". No…

An overnight stay is for observation not comfort. The hospital wants to gather as many metrics as possible to keep you alive, respond ASAP to issues and dis-chargable to free up room for other sick patients. not give you a hotel bed.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#33

Post by vasco » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:52 PM UTC

armchairhacker wrote: post #27

How does HIPAA compare to FERPA? My understanding is that FERPA is similar to HIPAA, except for college scores and enrollment information instead of medical records. But there’s a rule in FERPA where you explicitly can’t leave a stack of exams and let students pick them, because it exposes students to others’ scores. Another rule is that you can’t associate a students exam with their student ID even if it’s a sequenc…

I recently learnt on HN that some countries don't publish grades to ALL students at once and still can't think why. It's such an amazing gift to be able to see how much everyone got and the academic competition in its most pure form, while removing some awkwardness of getting results of your work (good or bad) early in your life.

People are too focused on hiding results because someone might feel bad.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#34

Post by swayvil » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:53 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #26

swayvil wrote: post #17

My friend spent the night in the hospital recently, for observation. She didn't sleep a wink. With all the beeping and alarms and periodic checks and procedures. Mostly involving her roommate. The next morning she was mentally and physically wrecked. the first thing she told the nurse was, "I want to go home so I can get some sleep. The nurse laughs and replies, "I hear that all the time. Nobody ever sleeps here". No…

The beeping and alarms and periodic checks and procedures are there to prevent worse things than a night's worth of lost sleep.

Yeah I get the obvious theory. But it's like putting a tourniquet around your neck to stop a nosebleed.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#35

Post by vasco » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:53 PM UTC

1-6 wrote: post #12

I have a domain name that's similar to a medical facility. Sensitive medical data gets emailed to the wrong recipient all the time and it's usually operator error.

My name and domain is similar to a huge transportation company so I frequently get quotes for big jobs, plus times and dates for large truck shipments.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#36

Post by Quekid5 » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:53 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #2

This is why "code is law" as a crypto meme was a little silly. Law is often intentionally flexible!

I think you can drop the "often". Law must almost by definition be flexible because there are so many things in life that aren't as simple 'yes' or 'no'.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#37

Post by tekla » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:54 PM UTC

swayvil wrote: post #34

ceejayoz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beeping and alarms and periodic checks and procedures are there to prevent worse things than a night's worth of lost sleep.

Yeah I get the obvious theory. But it's like putting a tourniquet around your neck to stop a nosebleed.

No its not. One bad night of sleep won't kill you. You are more than welcome to reject an overnight stay.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#38

Post by morkalork » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:54 PM UTC

swayvil wrote: post #17

My friend spent the night in the hospital recently, for observation. She didn't sleep a wink. With all the beeping and alarms and periodic checks and procedures. Mostly involving her roommate. The next morning she was mentally and physically wrecked. the first thing she told the nurse was, "I want to go home so I can get some sleep. The nurse laughs and replies, "I hear that all the time. Nobody ever sleeps here". No…

Likewise, l hospitals serve food portioned nutritionally for a healthy adult when people who are sick or healing from injury may very well need more calories and protein to fuel their bodies healing.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#39

Post by armchairhacker » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:55 PM UTC

vasco wrote: post #33

armchairhacker wrote: post #27

How does HIPAA compare to FERPA? My understanding is that FERPA is similar to HIPAA, except for college scores and enrollment information instead of medical records. But there’s a rule in FERPA where you explicitly can’t leave a stack of exams and let students pick them, because it exposes students to others’ scores. Another rule is that you can’t associate a students exam with their student ID even if it’s a sequenc…

I recently learnt on HN that some countries don't publish grades to ALL students at once and still can't think why. It's such an amazing gift to be able to see how much everyone got and the academic competition in its most pure form, while removing some awkwardness of getting results of your work (good or bad) early in your life. People are too focused on hiding results because someone might feel bad.

Most classes. publish grade distributions, so you know if you were in the top or bottom 10%. Or at least the mean, median, highest, and lowest.

But you don’t get the grades of individuals.

Re: Why do shared hospital rooms not violate HIPAA?

#40

Post by catchnear4321 » Wed, Aug 30, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

jliptzin wrote: post #20

macksd wrote: post #11

The top comment here is very reasonable, but I still think the application of HIPAA has been a giant mess, reflecting a disdain toward patients similar to everything else in the US healthcare system. I've ranted on here plenty about how often I've dealt with incorrect bills, and HIPAA plays into that as well. My private information can be shared to "traveling doctors", it can be shared with woefully incompetent contr…

I once went to the dermatologist, the doctor left the room briefly and had the computer screen open with everyone’s full name and reason for the visit that day…could see who was there for genital warts, Botox, etc. I don’t think anyone should expect that their health info remains private at any point

two seconds to clear the screen. a few dollars for a privacy shield.

your doctor was more than a little careless and, knowingly or not, relied on you to not cross any lines.

if that’s not concerning to you, fantastic… but for some reason you didn’t name the doctor, perhaps because you know others disagree. nor did you name the patients.

huh.

guess your doctor made a safe assumption about you. who else saw the warts list that day?