Did I Violate HIPAA??

[owlsandturtles]

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My PS mentions the name of a patient that I met during an internship. The only things I mentioned were: the first name of the patient, the name of the hospital/internship, and the name of her condition. I doubt anyone would be able to find her from this information, but am I violating anything? My advisor and my friends who looked over my PS didn't say anything, but what do you all think?

I already submitted my application (this just hit me as I was looking over everything for typos) so there is nothing I can do at this point. I just want to know if I did something terrible or if this would be a red flag.

 

[bonedoc5576]

you're fine. don't worry...be happy

 

[wwjd777]

My PS mentions the name of a patient that I met during an internship. The only things I mentioned were: the first name of the patient, the name of the hospital/internship, and the name of her condition. I doubt anyone would be able to find her from this information, but am I violating anything? My advisor and my friends who looked over my PS didn't say anything, but what do you all think?

I already submitted my application (this just hit me as I was looking over everything for typos) so there is nothing I can do at this point. I just want to know if I did something terrible or if this would be a red flag.

I am not an expert on this, but as long as the patient is not identifiable, you should be fine. I’d be cautious when you apply to the school that is associated with this hospital..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[929826]

If the person could be reasonably identified from the information you shared, yes. I think the mistake you made was going into details. Why is the name of the hospital, or even the patient, relevant to your story? One rule I try to follow is talk about experiences, not specific patients. Opinions may differ on this subject.

 

[Goro]

you're fine. don't worry...be happy

this.

 

[Med Ed]

My PS mentions the name of a patient that I met during an internship. The only things I mentioned were: the first name of the patient, the name of the hospital/internship, and the name of her condition. I doubt anyone would be able to find her from this information, but am I violating anything? My advisor and my friends who looked over my PS didn't say anything, but what do you all think?

I already submitted my application (this just hit me as I was looking over everything for typos) so there is nothing I can do at this point. I just want to know if I did something terrible or if this would be a red flag.

How unusual is her condition? Is her name distinctive?

The good news is that your AMCAS application is not public, but in the future you should always consider worst case scenarios and err on the side of caution.

 

[LizzyM]

Well, if her name was She’nyah and she was admitted to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the neck, then yes, you may have because the name is so distinctive.
If his name was Bill and he was admitted to Rush Medical Center with a stroke, then you might be ok. Always best to use the extra couple of characters and put the name in quotes. Change Bill to "Bob" and voila! you've restored his privacy.

Keep in mind that stranger things have happened than to have Bill's nephew or cousin reading applications at a med school miles away and recognizing old Uncle Bill.

 

[Tenk]

If questioned, you can just say you changed their name even if you didn’t. Without a last name there is 0 proof you did or did not do this. You’re fine.

Teaching point: when you do anything with patients change small but very specific things: age, first name, timing, etc. The more you change the more impossible it becomes to trace it back while still keeping the same general teaching points of the case intact.

 

[LizzyM]

If questioned, you can just say you changed their name even if you didn’t. Without a last name there is 0 proof you did or did not do this. You’re fine.

Teaching point: when you do anything with patients change small but very specific things: age, first name, timing, etc. The more you change the more impossible it becomes to trace it back while still keeping the same general teaching points of the case intact.

With a first name like She'nyah and the diagnosis and hospital, it may show up on Google as a news story even without a last name... don't lie on top of whatever you've done because it is far worse to lie about it than to have done it in the first place.

 

[Tenk]

With a first name like She'nyah and the diagnosis and hospital, it may show up on Google as a news story even without a last name... don't lie on top of whatever you've done because it is far worse to lie about it than to have done it in the first place.

HIPAA was never intended to even be used in this situation. It’s meant to protect patients, mainly from maliciousness and insurance companies. The only people who would even consider this a HIPAA violation are scumbag lawyers and someone who doesn’t understand the history behind why HIPAA was created in the first place. Also, HIPAA violations/lawsuits are incredibly severe and would literally destroy this person’s future medical career for good. Regardless, you’d still need proof and an ability to link the name to a chart. Yeah, maybe that name and a news story with an incredibly rare diagnosis, you shouldn’t lie but for the 99.9% of other medical cases it would be impossible to prove. Also, how often as an adcom are you subpoenaing charts?

 

[BurntFlower]

I think you should be okay. I wanted to stay on the safe side regarding patient info in my application so I referred to patients I saw during my volunteer experiences as Mr. X or Ms. Y.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

HIPAA was never intended to even be used in this situation. It’s meant to protect patients, mainly from maliciousness and insurance companies. The only people who would even consider this a HIPAA violation are scumbag lawyers and someone who doesn’t understand the history behind why HIPAA was created in the first place. Also, HIPAA violations/lawsuits are incredibly severe and would literally destroy this person’s future medical career for good. Regardless, you’d still need proof and an ability to link the name to a chart. Yeah, maybe that name and a news story with an incredibly rare diagnosis, you shouldn’t lie but for the 99.9% of other medical cases it would be impossible to prove. Also, how often as an adcom are you subpoenaing charts?

I think the question shouldn't be if this is an actual HIPAA violation but if it resembles one. No Adcomm member is going to file a lawsuit against an applicant for putting in too much patient information but they could decide "this person isn't careful with sensitive patient info, no way am I going to give him/her a shot at my medical school". That's why I always recommend using initials or specifically saying in the PS that you changed their name.

 

[LizzyM]

HIPAA was never intended to even be used in this situation. It’s meant to protect patients, mainly from maliciousness and insurance companies. The only people who would even consider this a HIPAA violation are scumbag lawyers and someone who doesn’t understand the history behind why HIPAA was created in the first place. Also, HIPAA violations/lawsuits are incredibly severe and would literally destroy this person’s future medical career for good. Regardless, you’d still need proof and an ability to link the name to a chart. Yeah, maybe that name and a news story with an incredibly rare diagnosis, you shouldn’t lie but for the 99.9% of other medical cases it would be impossible to prove. Also, how often as an adcom are you subpoenaing charts?

Never mind HIPAA, you owe your patients their privacy. This is not just HIPAA which is only about 20 years ago, but goes back to the ancients.

 

[Tenk]

Never mind HIPAA, you owe your patients their privacy. This is not just HIPAA which is only about 20 years ago, but goes back to the ancients.

This thread is literally about HIPAA. It is in the title.

 

[Tenk]

I think the question shouldn't be if this is an actual HIPAA violation but if it resembles one. No Adcomm member is going to file a lawsuit against an applicant for putting in too much patient information but they could decide "this person isn't careful with sensitive patient info, no way am I going to give him/her a shot at my medical school". That's why I always recommend using initials or specifically saying in the PS that you changed their name.

That is what I said in my previous post but most adcom aren’t going to go through the length to verify if a first name is an actual first name or a fake one.

 

[LizzyM]

This thread is literally about HIPAA. It is in the title.

So if it doesn't violate HIPAA, it is okay to speak or write about a patient? Beyond the title of the thread, the text of the original message asked "...am I violating anything?" HIPAA is a convenient shorthand for "patient privacy" but it should not be taken literally as "did I violate a specific federal law?" when one asks "did I violate HIPAA?"

Could I give you all the juicy details of an NBA player's surgery but as long as I don't mention his name (but you could guess if you read the sports pages and know who's been in my hospital) it's okay because it is not a violation of HIPAA because I didn't specifically reveal PHI?

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

That is what I said in my previous post but most adcom aren’t going to go through the length to verify if a first name is an actual first name or a fake one.

Right. But if we even think it is a real first name we're going to assume it is.

 

[Tenk]

So if it doesn't violate HIPAA, it is okay to speak or write about a patient? Beyond the title of the thread, the text of the original message asked "...am I violating anything?" HIPAA is a convenient shorthand for "patient privacy" but it should not be taken literally as "did I violate a specific federal law?" when one asks "did I violate HIPAA?"

Could I give you all the juicy details of an NBA player's surgery but as long as I don't mention his name (but you could guess if you read the sports pages and know who's been in my hospital) it's okay because it is not a violation of HIPAA because I didn't specifically reveal PHI?

If you actually just take a moment and reread the original post it specifically says that it would be unlikely anyone could identify the patient based on the information provided. That alone is usually sufficient to say it is not a HIPAA violation. I don’t think any of these NBA, She’nya examples fit the OP’s dilemma and are therefore irrelevant to the question posed. I respect patient privacy. I think we all should. But I hate HIPAA. HIPAA, like EMTALA are good intentioned government mandates that have been so distorted by attorneys and admin that they become a hinderance to providing care. Everything with patients is a HIPAA violation. Waiting in the waiting room too long in the ED is an EMTALA violation in the right attorney’s hands. You have to understand that being accused of a HIPAA violation isn’t a grey thing. It’s black and white. If found guilty, you are screwed out of your future in this case. Thus, if he/she was accused of an HIPAA violation, pleading guilty to the accuser (in this case an adcom reading their essay) would just seal their fate. Better to play dumb than admit guilt, always. Basic law and courtroom knowledge. Again though, this scenario is so far fetched I have a hard time believing it could ever happen unless the adcom was literally insane.

 

[LizzyM]

If you actually just take a moment and reread the original post it specifically says that it would be unlikely anyone could identify the patient based on the information provided. That alone is usually sufficient to say it is not a HIPAA violation. I don’t think any of these NBA, She’nya examples fit the OP’s dilemma and are therefore irrelevant to the question posed. I respect patient privacy. I think we all should. But I hate HIPAA. HIPAA, like EMTALA are good intentioned government mandates that have been so distorted by attorneys and admin that they become a hinderance to providing care. Everything with patients is a HIPAA violation. Waiting in the waiting room too long in the ED is an EMTALA violation in the right attorney’s hands. You have to understand that being accused of a HIPAA violation isn’t a grey thing. It’s black and white. If found guilty, you are screwed out of your future in this case. Thus, if he/she was accused of an HIPAA violation, pleading guilty to the accuser (in this case an adcom reading their essay) would just seal their fate. Better to play dumb than admit guilt, always. Basic law and courtroom knowledge. Again though, this scenario is so far fetched I have a hard time believing it could ever happen unless the adcom was literally insane.

I'm here not just to answer a question about a specific federal law or to answer the OP specifically but to provide a broader response for the people who come here later, search on a keyword and find something that might answer a question before they even ask it.

You do you. It's all good.

 

[Tenk]

I'm here not just to answer a question about a specific federal law or to answer the OP specifically but to provide a broader response for the people who come here later, search on a keyword and find something that might answer a question before they even ask it.

You do you. It's all good.

Roger that. Sorry for the misunderstanding then.

 

[LizzyM]

I trot this story out every year... it happened several decades ago to someone who worked closely with me. An applicant wrote in the experience section that he had volunteered at XYZ school for kids with special needs. In the essay the appliant wrote about being inspired by Donald who was a special needs child. It was a sweet essay and not inappropriate. However, Donald's mother was an adcom member. She was assigned to read the application. It was her first day back to work after Donald's funeral. Of course, she handed the application back and it was assigned to someone else but you can never be so sure that the first name and other details you provide won't be evident to someone reading the application. (The kid's mother was not a physician and I highly doubt that the applicant had any idea that someone that knew Donald would be reading the application.)

Be safe. Always use a pseduonym for anyone you've had as a patient or client.

 

[jd989898]

I did something very similar in my PS and was accepted.

 

[bvan95]

I trot this story out every year... it happened several decades ago to someone who worked closely with me. An applicant wrote in the experience section that he had volunteered at XYZ school for kids with special needs. In the essay the appliant wrote about being inspired by Donald who was a special needs child. It was a sweet essay and not inappropriate. However, Donald's mother was an adcom member. She was assigned to read the application. It was her first day back to work after Donald's funeral. Of course, she handed the application back and it was assigned to someone else but you can never be so sure that the first name and other details you provide won't be evident to someone reading the application. (The kid's mother was not a physician and I highly doubt that the applicant had any idea that someone that knew Donald would be reading the application.)

Be safe. Always use a pseduonym for anyone you've had as a patient or client.

What if I used the last name of a physician I shadowed with and just mentioned that he saw this older woman with cancer?

 

[LizzyM]

What if I used the last name of a physician I shadowed with and just mentioned that he saw this older woman with cancer?

Critical thinking skills, my friend. I said,

Be safe. Always use a pseduonym for anyone you've had as a patient or client.

Now apply your critical thinking skills to the example you've given and determine if you've used the name of a patient or client.

 

[DSM_302.0]

Critical thinking skills, my friend. I said,


Now apply your critical thinking skills to the example you've given and determine if you've used the name of a patient or client.

I admired your patience throughout this post and now I admire your sass

 

[Planes2Doc]

When I applied to medical school, I just mentioned the patient's gender and said that it was during my volunteer time in the ED. I didn't mention anything pertaining to the date of when this happened. He also had a stroke, which isn't uncommon. Had it been a patient with Fatal Familial Insomnia, it would have been a whole other story.

I recently gave a Power Point presentation about some cases from our night float. I assigned the patient's names from TV shows based on their problems. Apparently no one else has watched "This Is Us," but they knew it was fake. 😕 If you are working on a project and are going to present it, go with fictional names from movies, books, comics, etc... Otherwise, for a personal statement to medical school, a gender will be fine. Depending on where you were at, the ADCOMs can probably figure out what site it was at (if you only volunteered or work at one hospital). But a gentleman with a heart attack at Stroger Hospital isn't going to come anywhere close to violating HIPAA.

 

[LizzyM]

Be careful in case presentations even without a name. I recall a case presentation in the hospital many years ago and someone asked, "What is the patient's profession?" and rather than saying "she is a lawyer" or "she's an elected official", (which might be relevant to the case with regard to occupational exposures, or lack thereof) the presenter gave the patient's job title; the patient was the only woman in that role in government and her name was frequently in the media. The attending who was moderating the discussion interrupted and reminded everyone that anything said in the room was confidential and this information was not to leave the room.