Correct about breach of privacy and its NOT too late
Posted By: Lvgonadream on 2009-02-06
In Reply to: OMG, you hit the nail on the head. sm - U.S. all the way
As others have stressed on this board, both here and under the politics board, you have a voice and have the opportunity to make it heard. I personally have been e-mailing my US and state elected officials at least once a week. At the Women for Democrats website one of their goals is to bring American jobs back to America. http://democrats.senate.gov/checklistforchange/checklist.cfm The credit card processor for my bank, Heartland, recently had a huge breach in their security system. Per our local State Police this theft is way up due to 2 factors (1) Once our private information leaves the US, those entities are NOT governed by US law and there is little they can do about it; (2) the economy as more people are now willing to buy that information. He said the same goes for our medical information. If you do a search for "medical identify theft", there are over 70,000 hits on that, mind you I did it in quotes, so most likely more without it. This was published Jan 2009, so recent, with many links at the end including a US Government report. http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/report-hhs-must-lead-medical-identity-theft-fight/2009-01-26?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FHI0 In the years 2000-2004, I was one of the front runners fighting mortgage servicing fraud (very complex, see MSfraud.org) We were told then that there was "nothing to be done" - well a lot of victims of that fraud banded together and did make a BIG difference. We can too by getting our voices heard, working together as a team and following the many suggestions on this very informative forum at MT Stars.
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Hospital fined for breach of octuplet mom's privacy
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/15/octuplet.mom.hospital/index.html
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The hospital where a California woman gave birth to octuplets in January has been fined $250,000 by the state because nearly two dozen medical workers, including doctors, illegally viewed her medical records, according to state health officials.
![Nadya](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/05/15/octuplet.mom.hospital/art.octuplets.gi.jpg")
Nadya Suleman was the subject of controversy after giving birth to octuplets in January.
Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower hospital, where Nadya Suleman's eight babies were born, revealed in March that 15 employees lost their jobs and eight others were disciplined for improperly accessing her computerized medical records.
There was no evidence that information from the medical files was leaked to the news media, which has intensely covered Suleman's story, according to Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director of the California Public Health Department's Center for Health Care Quality.
Six of the privacy breaches happened at other Kaiser Permanente facilities, which are linked into the same computer system housing medical records.
Suleman -- already a single mother with six children -- gave birth to octuplets conceived through in vitro fertilization, fueling controversy. News of her collecting public assistance for some of her children outraged many taxpayers.
By the waq, it should be brEAch of HIPAA. nm
nm
PS to confidentiality breach
I should have said they "had" their confidentiality breached by others. The hospital was very apologetic of this and does not know who did it but called in federal investigators to find the source of the poster on the website.
Hospital confidentiality breach in RI.
A hospital in Rhode Island breached patient information of over 2000. Federal investigation underway. Patient's names, SS#, telephone, etc., put out for all to see and caught by a patient who "googled" her own name. They say it was only face sheet info and hospital offered to pay for credit check or credit fraud alert. (Which is free by the way!) So please be careful who you get involved with. I don't believe it was medical transcription or medical records since it was face sheet information but believe me, all subcontractors to this hospital are now on alert and you should be as well. It's out there! The scum bags who post info are at it again. They also had a scandal at a RI supermarket chain where the credit card swiping machines were altered by crooks who are being charged with federal crimes, two would keep the cashiers busy while another would alter the card swiping machine, put it back to collect information, then come in again, take out the swiping info and people as far away as California were charging to these poor innocent people in RI whose cards were swiped while doing their weekly shopping. So don't think your information is safe anywhere. These stories can be confirmed by the local newspaper in RI, "The Providence Journal" at their website, "projo.com". Check it out!!
Priority #1 is breech/breach, which to use? nm
xx
Sue him in small claims court for breach of contract
x
all has to do with everyone's right to privacy--sm
and possible identity theft. We are not living *back before politically correct* any long and we need to protect ourselves in ALL areas of our lives, including the privacy of our medical records. Your grandparents' medical records and information are not yours to give away. That is up to them. Perhaps they do not want your child's school knowing all of their information. What if someone at that school happened to know those grandparents, found out about their medical history, and started blabbing it all over the place. This is what medical record privacy is for..to protect those that do not want it divulged to just anyone who asks for it. It may not bother you, but it bothers others, and that should be a protected right. This is just my take on privacy.
Enough with invasion of privacy
Its is all getting so frightening, the invasion by companies into peoples lives. I have worked at nine hospitals, two trans companies on-site, three trans companies at home and never have I had a background check OR drug screen. The policy for drug screening at the hospitals was if you seemed like you were under the influence your boss could request a drug screen but never happened to ME or any of my coworkers. Physical exam, sure I got those when I worked at the hospitals but they paid for the physical exam and they also covered me for insurance. The trans company I work for now does not provide medical coverage or life insurance coverage for statutory employees, so I dont see why they would be concerned about my health status. Lets face it, they are concerned with how much we can pound away each day and that is it. We get paid for what we produce. So under these circumstances, they dont need to be poking their nose IN my background, my urine or my physical body. If it is checking on my experience, well they already did that by talking to previous employers and coworkers and guess I passed the test, as I was hired.
I think they are violating your privacy
I'd check it out on the ALCU web site if you don't find anything regarding that there email them and ask about it... or Google in workplace privacy. I think they are way out of line when it is your personal computer and not theirs. If it's theirs they are within their rights
when privacy direct first came out.....sm
it only cost $2/month extra - today I think it costs $19.95 but to me it's worth it because #1 it cuts all telemarketer calls (and I have been on the Do Not Call list since that began) and I can also take my phone charges off my MTSO business at tax time......
call your phone company and ask them if they offer anything like Privacy Director. *S* 
Privacy question.
I do occasional IC work for a provider that I have known a while now. Today i did some work for her and found something that really bothers me. The physician dictates the patient's full name, street address and home phone number in addition to her DOB. Is that HIPPA compliant? I'm sorry folks but I really don't want my street address and phone number available across the internet even if it is "so called" secure. I would like your thoughts.
Privacy standards?
Who actually do you contact to report a breech of privacy standards in this business? I probably should know this by now, but I don't.
No you should not tell. I do believe it is a violation of privacy since you are doing the report.
The guy has to do what he has to do obviously to exist with his sorry self.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule...(sm)
...requires a covered entity to make "reasonable efforts to limit use, disclosure of, and requests for PHI to the minimum necessary to accomplish the intended purpose." The only AHA-approved HIPAA training program, HIPAA Academy, specifically states in its training materials that HIPAA intends that personal information be limited to document headers unless absolutely required I will quote page 4-56:
"In practice, we expect the minimum-necessary requirement to lead to compartmentalization of the medical record so that one portion of the record (the body of the report) may be readily disclosed for one purpose without compromising the privacy of the entire record."
By limiting PHI to headers, reports can easily be redacted of personal information; when the PHI is scattered throughout the reports, this information cannot be redacted.
HIPAA Privacy Rule
http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20021100/35theh.html
the problem is that this is a violation of privacy
Hope you don't think it is okay to have your family members looking in on your computer while you are working!!
Not to make light of pt privacy, but
I type on a 14 inch laptop screen that I must keep about 2 feet away from my face in order to see it. In the course of seeing my laptop, my less than petite frame obscures probably the middle 50% of the screen. On the screen, there are endless lines of text that would be rather meaningless to the average barrista/customer. The patient demographics are obtained via a link on the toolbar. A 'hotkey' is entered throughout the report where the patient name appears and in the preparing-to-send process, these are all replaced with the patient's name. The hospital I type for is 3000 miles away.
I can see where this might be problematic should someone with better vision than I manage to see around my hulking slumped body and see 25% of the text on the left and 25% of the text on the right and know enough about transcription to be able to fill in those rather large blanks on each line (and that doesn't even take into account that most laptops are made to be viewed head-on; side viewing, viewing from above, etc., distort the picture to make it all but illegible). I suppose this could still be problematic if this eagle-eyed contortionist with an intuitive knowledge of medical terminology and knowledge of random software programs to find that demographic button can psychically detect which hospital of the thousands in the country I am working on and happens to have a relative who lives in that very town ready, willing, and eager to spill the beans about Madame X's bunion. Yes, I can see where this is a danger. I guess I should thank my lucky stars that I have not run into either this fellow or chupicabra at my local coffee house.
It does violate privacy or employment laws.
I've posted about it before because there were MTSOs trashing MTs by name on some of the boards. My mother is an HR director, so she's told me what companies legally can and can't divulge about employees or former employees. Companies are not allowed to prevent people from securing employment, or slander/libel them. Personal opinions cannot cloud the reference. They can only confirm or deny the accuracy of certain items, such as employment dates, etc. I think the most judgmental question they can answer is, "Would you rehire this person?" Yes or no.
Guide for HIPAA PRivacy Rule
Covers for Stedman's books are designed by the graphic artist who works with them.
HIPPA=Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act
Yes, I saw the ad also and felt it was an insult to offer that line rate for what they wanted from an IC. I put the definition of what the initials HIPPA mean for your benefit.
Get Steadman's Guid to the HIPAA Privacy Rule
:)
Stedman's Guide to the HIPAA Privacy Rule has one.
nm
It is not a breech of privacy to send unencrpyted email...
the healthcare provider , i.e. the doc, establishes the standards for protecting privacy of records. You (or your service) is the Business Associate who COMPLIES with whatever standards the doctor sets. Some docs send files by email, some want encryption. Hospitals, obviously, generally do more locking down on their stuff, as they are more open to lawsuits. All YOU have to do to be HIPAA compliant is to COMPLY witih the standards the doc sets. It is not up to you to set them. Also what you and everyone else forgets about HIPAA is it is a two part process. Not only does the patient's medical records have to be disclosed BUT the patient must also suffer a loss because of the disclosure. So even if your doc stands out on the street and tells passers-by about Mrs. So and So and her athlete's foot, unless she incurs a loss from that, it's not a HIPAA violation. Remember this whole thing came about because a pharmacy tech went home and told her high school son that another classmate's father was coming in for HIV drugs...get the picture? Something private was disclosed inappropriately and that's how the girl found out her father was HIV positive.
Work privacy - discussing one employee in hearing of another
I posted a question on the legal board because it is a legal question about workplace privacy and I thought somebody there might know, but please check it if you know anything about laws or agencies that protect worker privacy.
Don't think the worker privacy acts cover discussions such as this...
more likely they cover things like credit reports, evaluations, etc. It's rude to discuss in front of others, but not illegal...of course, in the US you can sue for anything.
It is against California Privacy Laws, and the patient can sue from what I read.
They (companies that outsource) are probably lining the pockets of the politicians!
maybe it's just a pure and simple invasion of privacy the poster feels they want to protect.
if you do your job, who cares if poster was released from prison. weren't companies hiring prisoners to do MT anyway and weren't they doing credit card customer service?
OpEd on Medical Records Privacy - Front Page of Yahoo
Thought this was interesting, as it pertains to us. On one hand, it could affect our ability to do our jobs at home. On the other, it could really crack down on medical information being sent to India.
--
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/yblevins
By Sue A. Blevins Tue Aug 26, 4:00 AM ET
Washington - How would you feel about your personal health information flowing freely over the Internet between public health officials, healthcare providers, insurance and data clearinghouse companies, and others – without your permission?
ADVERTISEMENT
If this doesn't sound like a good idea, it's time to become informed about federal health privacy law.
Today, when Americans visit a healthcare provider for services (including dental and eye exams), they receive a form with a title such as "Notification of Privacy Rights." Many assume that signing the form guarantees that personal information won't be shared with third parties. But the form offers no such guarantees. And neither does federal law.
In fact, the privacy rule established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) legally permits healthcare providers to share patients' information with more than 600,000 health- and data-related entities – without a patient's consent. Yet the notification form doesn't clearly explain this.
Individuals control their information when they give consent; they don't with notification. When you sign a notification form, all you are doing is acknowledging its receipt. The HIPAA notification form offers no control over who sees your information and instead just tells you about some of the entities that can access your information, rather than asking for your permission.
Consequently, many physicians and other healthcare providers are urging Congress to strengthen privacy rights. They know firsthand that the HIPAA rule fails to ensure true confidentiality.
"...[T]he regulations under [HIPAA], which were intended to extend patient privacy as we moved from a paper-based system of medical records to a digital system, are a sham. HIPAA allows the routine release of personal health information without patient consent or knowledge, and even over a patient's objection…" stresses Dr. Janis G. Chester, president of the American Association of Practicing Psychiatrists.
As the ACLU put it, "HIPAA has so many medical privacy loopholes, it makes Swiss cheese look solid." The organization also points out that under existing federal regulations, the term "privacy" hasn't been well defined. The ACLU is urging Congress to define medical privacy as "patient control of electronic medical records."
Moreover, these organizations and others are lobbying for privacy amendments to key health Internet-technology (HIT) bills currently being considered in Congress.
Lack of privacy has serious consequences. It fosters making personal health information a commodity that businesses sell and trade in the marketplace, notes ACLU. Weak privacy rights also interfere with doctor-patient relationships. When drafting the HIPAA privacy rule, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted that "Privacy violations reduce consumers' trust in the healthcare system and institutions that serve them." The ACLU noted recently that at least one third of Americans are not sharing their complete personal medical histories because they feel their privacy will be weakened in the name of efficiency. Additionally, without strong privacy rights, individuals can't take steps to adequately protect themselves from bad, lost, stolen, or misused data.
Meanwhile, more and more personal data is being collected during routine healthcare visits, including information about marital and sexual matters. A married woman (wedded for over 30 years) and mother of two adult children, said she was appalled when asked during a routine visit if she preferred men or women. She stressed that while she "has nothing to hide," she doesn't think it's anyone's business what her sexual preference is or when her first sexual encounter was (which is often asked during exams).
What's more, it is becoming easier to share healthcare information with just a click of a mouse. As HHS has noted, "Until recently, health information was recorded and maintained on paper and stored in the offices of community-based physicians, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare professionals and institutions.... Today, however, more and more health care providers, plans, and others are utilizing electronic means of storing and transmitting health information…. In a matter of seconds, a person's most profoundly private information can be shared with hundreds, thousands, even millions of individuals and organizations at a time."
Do Americans really want the intimate details of their lives and families shared so easily without their consent? If not, they need to urge Congress to establish stronger privacy rights. Tinkering with HIPAA won't do it. That would just keep a lot of people busy rewriting regulations that don't guarantee privacy. Rather, Congress needs to pass a new law that defines "privacy" and upholds the precious ethic of consent. The new law should guarantee individuals' freedom to decide whether to be part of electronic medical-record and genetic databases for years to come.
• Sue A. Blevins is president of the Institute for Health Freedom in Washington.
Do it correct always. It will learn. Everyone has to do it correct all the time. nm
x
Who designed the cover for Guide to HIPAA Privacy Rule published by Stedman's?
nm
If you are careful with putting the correct report in the correct report shell and patient, you will
not have any problems. I only take away this option when someone is careless. There can be NO room for error on this. One mistake can be very serious. Many do it well though, so just double check and you will be fine.
Too late now, but what you should have done...
You probably should have deprived yourself of sleep last night and slept today, or better yet a couple nights in a row, just cleaning house or something to keep you "awake" so you can get a jump start on training your sleep cycle.
It is SO hard to do this job sleep deprived because it is so sedentary. I can easily stay up 24 to 35 hours as long as I'm doing something physician and nonbrain-taxing.
If you find yourself nodding off, take a 45-minute nap. I'm sure your employer will understand this is something hard to go into "cold turkey."
Good luck!
Late fee
I do the opposite, I offer a small discount when they pay within five days and in the past five years I have had my checks well within that time frame (usually 2 days) and never have had to ask for my check.
Patti
Late fee
I really don't think a late fee is going to make them pay you any earlier. You really need to sit down with the office manager or whomever processes your invoice and talk with them. They probably won't pay the late fee and still take 3 weeks to pay you. If you stay with the account and this has been a chronic problem you gotta budget to have money to tide you over for the 20 to 30 days or how ever long it takes them to process your check. Talk to them see what they say and then decide if it is worth the frustration to continue with it. If this has been going on for quite a while doesn't sound like it is going to change so you either have to live with it or find another account. In 22 years of doing my own accounts I have never had anyone pay me any later than 10 days after recepit of invoice and that was just a couple of time. I guess I am lucky but it is the truth.
late pay
Well, I feel the same way, I don't want to mention the name of the company at this point. I do know however the company actually goes to pick up the checks from the hospitals and has to get them in the bank before she pays her ICs! I have been in this business over 20 years and it's the first time I have encountered something like this.
Late $
We sound like we are in a similar boat. Very nice people, very appreciative of good work, and it does get paid, just late, which most of us cannot handle because our bills need to be paid on time. How do you manage with your bills?
late pay
It isn't easy! When she does pay I try to get enough ahead to pay bills when she is late which is basically every pay period. And luckily, my husband has a good job, but it is one which slows down in the cold months. I Christmas shopped about 6 months ago! Plus, our work has not been slow and I have been able to make an extra $200 or so each week. How do you manage?
Late pay??
Ok, I've never had a problem getting paid before, so I'm not sure what to do. I worked for this small MT company and they still owe me a month's worth of pay. I've tried emailing the person, but she just keeps blowing me off. What should I do next?? (Of course, I quit.) Thanks.
You will get a 30-day late on your...
credit report. You may also get an "Intention to Foreclose" letter, which will scare the heck out of you. Those letters standardly go out the day after the 30 days passes.
I agree that your best bet would be to ask for one deferred payment. Some lenders will do that, but some are very hard-nosed and NEVER do it.
Will you be able to make your March payment before the end of March? If so, you should try to schedule both February's and March's payment to come out of your account on specific days . . . say, on March 2 (as you mentioned) and even March 31. That will keep you from getting another 30-day late.
Once you start to lag behind, it is soooo hard to catch up again. I'm hoping they let you defer a payment. 
153 in my late 20s...however I do believe it is going down.
as I once was, that's for sure.
don't know if too late, but....sm
doesn't your insurance cover such things...mine would have replaced the whole thing.
Definitely late 40s for me
Here I sit, having worked six days in a row with one day off and starting new week facing more OT due to computer down with one MT and death in family with another.
Did it in my 20s and 30s with no problem.
Now, however, I have eye strain and sore hips from sitting so long and really am rum-drummy if that is a good description. Fear making an error.
And, I do not make much more money as I have to proof everything and think before I type which slows me down in long run.
Yes, give me 40 hour week over the age of 40. Long complicated reports is where my expertise is these days.
Late Pay
I recently had to leave a wonderful lady and I mean absolutely wonderful due to late payments. She had paid late several times over the last year. I had even changed my bill dates so that I could accomodate the usually no more than 5 days late that she consistently was with pay. Last month she was 6 days late, which would have been okay with me, except that I had an automatic payment come out the day before the pay was due to be DD (which I signed up for due to promise that pay would be on time this way). Fortunately I was paranoid and called my bank and was made aware of the problem, but I had to borrow from my niece, my 21-year-old niece!! HOW HUMILIATING!!! I told my very extremely wonderful MTSO that I could not work for her if she was late again. I also had it set up that all I needed was my August pay checks on time (meaning within the 5 day "grace period" I gave her) and the September 1st paycheck, then I was set to just put her checks into savings.
Well, that never happened. It did not occur to me that she would dare be late, but come August 21 I went to deposit a refund check from a Church camp as it was canceled due to fires, and the bank tells me that after depositing $220 that I was still short in my account! To make things worse, it was not my money that paid for the camp. I was depositing the refund check and then writing a check to my mom's Church as she had used her tithe money to pay for my girls to go to camp! I still was trying to be calm at this point and asked the MTSO what was going on, well supposedly she had sent me a check on the 7th of August. Funny thing is I did not even bill her until the 9th. First it was a certified check, then it was a money order, then it was sent on a different date.......... I could go on and on, but needless to say I had to quit. I cannot afford to work for free. I cannot afford to be late on my bills.
I stayed with this MTSO for so long despite late payments because I thought I new I would always get paid. We had a GREAT working relationship, except the pay, and I really wanted the long time IC, great reference that this provided me...... you know a real "feather in my cap" for my resume. I plan on going after my own accounts next year after saving a couple of months worth of bills. BUT, in the end I had to threaten legal action to even get what I was owed, and I was sick for several days because of how ......... well sick this made me to have to "burn" that bridge, and how sick it made me because I ended up having to get very, very ugly (which made me even more sick) in order to get more than "I will check into that and get back to you" on when I was going to get paid.
This is a touch situation that you are in and only you can make the final decision. I personally LOVE being an MT. I just have learned to not "put all my eggs into one basket." I work for a couple of companies, one a national and one an MTSO. I can get extra lines at both if desired. It can take a long time to find the right fit, so hang in there if you like being an MT. Of course, teaching is a very honorable and rewarding career choice too.
Please excuse any typos, tired, but felt it very important to respond to this one to let OP know she is not alone and there is hope.
This is probably too late but....
Oncology was my specialty for years, and I felt like you...so difficult. Then one day the codgy old oncologist that was a detailed and strict dictator started dictating a report about his patient and started to cry....me too.
No one is spared this...IMO
Its too late know, but I would not have even said
anything to the first company. If they are sending you such little work you should have been able to juggle both companies for a short while. I don't think they terminated you because of a different job though.
Trying to help but maybe too late
This is the procedure I found for when you want to transfer glossary from one computer to another, I'm assuming you do not have access to the other computer:
You need only send your .glo files to the new computer through an email attachment, through floppy, jump drive or other media, and save to C:InstTextGlossary folder. Then open IT and finally, open the glossaries.
Sure it is SS that is late and not your bank? They have to
build deposit files and it may be the banking system having problems.
Just trying to help.
Oops, too late
I'm sure I will regret my decision, but I have decided to ride the storm out 
I am in Slidell which is on the north shore, but I know we are going to see extensive wind damage and who knows what else!
Yep! Especially late afternoon.. nm
.
late fees
My business attorney told me I could really charge whatever I wanted - BUT - it had to be put as a disclaimer on the bottom of every billing you send them-- that is their "notice" -- you can't just charge them without warning them. I charge 5% of total billing. Mine reads something like "late fee of 5% will be charged if invoice is not paid within 10 calendar days." Be careful on the verbage of calendar days versus business days. And don't be afraid to charge it or defend it -- every other vendor they have is charging it!!
LATE PAYERS
I want to talk about why so many MTSOs pay late. We have all read the posts about complaints of independent contractors receiving late payments. We have all read that some people feel these companies that pay late do not know how to manage the company. I would imagine that many of these late-paying companies have not received their payments from their accounts, and they themselves are waiting for their money, so that they have enough money in the bank to pay the contractors. I suspect that many of these companies do not pay late intentionally and maliciously. I think they have a problem with cash flow mainly because their accounts may be slow to pay. Many of these MTSOs probably do not have bank privileges to allow them to write checks to the ICs (while awaiting their payments). So what do we ICs do when this happens? Just be patient and understand this is the nature of the beast? We are at the mercy of the accounts and their payments to the MTSOs. What can the MTSOs do to improve their situation with cash flow? Some people post notes suggesting to quit, run the other way, and find a better-paying company. This is not always that easy to do. This seems an unfortunately typical problem. Doesn't the problem lie mainly with the hospitals and clinics themselves, who fail to pay on time to their MTSOs that serve them 24/7/375? Suggestions? Ideas?
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