Does Looking up your own EMR conflict with HIPAA regulations?

[theWUbear]

I wanna do it! But I don't wanna lose my job!

I'm pretty sure it's against HIPAA and therefore hospital regulations. After searching the internets I saw some nurses had posted on sites that it is grounds for firing at their hospitals. Anyone have any information on the subject?

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[ruiner]

Yes, it would be grounds for firing where I worked. And a very obvious one as well. There is a process you can go through that allows you to look though, but I have no idea if that is universal throughout hospitals.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

It is not "against HIPAA" since any patient has the right to view their own health records.

However, "looking yourself up" may be against hospital policy as you are circumventing the appropriate channels to access the information. This depends on the institution.

Imho unless you have good reason to (i.e. not just for fun or out of curiosity)...don't.

 

[apumic]

It's grounds for termination at mine as well. This is actually one of the first things they told us at orientation. They told us we could have a HCW who was in charge of our care pull it and show it to us but pulling it ourselves could result in termination. Basically it circumvents proper channels for information flow and likely makes it easier for the hospital to ensure confidentiality.

 

[echolalia16]

I've looked up myself plenty of times, and so have some family members who also work in health. Its against the law to withhold patient records from a patient. However I don't know if the hospital that you work at requires some sort of request or whatnot. You might want to ask.

 

[Tatastrophy]

it is against the rules at the hospital I work at. but from what I hear from nurses....they look each other's up all the time when one of them wants to know lab results or something early (aka avoid phone tag with the doc's office).

 

[Web MD]

In the interests of saving your job I'll be frank with you - those bumps are herpes. No need for EMR

 

[ucladoc2b]

Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, all facilities are required to let you examine your own medical record within 30 days of request.

I would be pretty surprised if you were terminated for looking up your own record...

Now if you were to look up the record of your friend, that would be a different story.

 

[ruiner]

I would be pretty surprised if you were terminated for looking up your own record...

I can guarentee at my hospital that if you looked up your own record you would be terminated. Not saying it violates HIPAA but it definitely violates hospital policy if you don't go through the proper channel.

 

[loveoforganic]

It is not "against HIPAA" since any patient has the right to view their own health records.

However, "looking yourself up" may be against hospital policy as you are circumventing the appropriate channels to access the information. This depends on the institution.

Imho unless you have good reason to (i.e. not just for fun or out of curiosity)...don't.

This, word for word.

 

[Perrotfish]

Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, all facilities are required to let you examine your own medical record within 30 days of request.

I would be pretty surprised if you were terminated for looking up your own record...

Now if you were to look up the record of your friend, that would be a different story.

You would be fired (or failed, if you were a student) for doing it at ours. You have a right to recieve a copy of your record within 30 days of the request, not to view the origional record itself which is hospital property. I have no idea why they don't want you just looking at your own record, but it does seem to be a common policy. If you really want to know request a copy through proper channels.

 

[mvenus929]

We can get fired for looking at anyone's record without a valid reason for doing so (i.e. if you're doing something not related directly to your job). You leave an electronic trail whatever you do, and they routinely audit these records.

That's why there's a department specifically designed for handing out medical records.

 

[keepworking10]

We can get fired for looking at anyone's record without a valid reason for doing so (i.e. if you're doing something not related directly to your job). You leave an electronic trail whatever you do, and they routinely audit these records.

That's why there's a department specifically designed for handing out medical records.

Where I work they do daily access audits. That is how people get caught stealing patient information (SSN, DOB, etc, to file their own claims under a physician name.....there was a story about this on 60 Minutes before)

 

[blaithnaid]

At my place you can look up yours, your dependent kids, and those for whom you have the right to make medical decisions sans the record office control. Totes legal.

 

[wholeheartedly]

The policy at the hospital I work at is that if you have access to the charts you are allowed to look up your own records, although they recommend you do so with your provider so they can explain things to you. The policy also is that you need written authorization noted in the chart to look anyone else up, such as a spouse and you can't look up your kid, even if they are still dependent. You aren't supposed to use work time to do so. Here, if you were to look up a coworker for them, you'd be toast and gone. They do audits all the time.

At the previous place I worked, you couldn't look yourself up. Pretty much depends.

 

[Disinence2]

I agree that this policy seems very counter-intuitive. It's probably not a good idea.

I know of a few doctors who looked up their own records in their outpt offices that were affiliated with the hospital and they got some pretty nasty letters. Even thought it might be "grounds for termination" for a nurse or a tech, it seems for a doctor you would have to do much worse than this for them to actually fire you.

As a med student you wouldn't "Fail" a rotation, but would likely get yelled at by multiple people, then probably have a letter placed in some form of magical "Permanent Record"

Now whenever we open up an EMR a box pops up where you have to specify why you want to look at the chart. Very annoying...

 

[fahimaz7]

Yup.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

As a med student you wouldn't "Fail" a rotation, but would likely get yelled at by multiple people, then probably have a letter placed in some form of magical "Permanent Record"

Most likely they would hit you with the dreaded "unprofessional" label.

 

[Depakote]

You have a right to request a copy of your chart as every other patient does.

You do not have the right to use the hospital's EMR resources to look up it's patients (including yourself) without a business reason. You have to do the same thing every other patient does (including pay the copy fee).

 

[45408]

I know of a few doctors who looked up their own records in their outpt offices that were affiliated with the hospital and they got some pretty nasty letters. Even thought it might be "grounds for termination" for a nurse or a tech, it seems for a doctor you would have to do much worse than this for them to actually fire you.

Yeah, I've seen a few instances where people looked up someone they shouldn't, and nurses/techs get fired, but doctors get disciplined. It's probably because the doctors don't actually work for the hospital most of the time - they just have privileges there.

As a med student you wouldn't "Fail" a rotation, but would likely get yelled at by multiple people, then probably have a letter placed in some form of magical "Permanent Record"

Agreed. The hospital would yell and scream, but it's up to the school to actually fail you or expel you.

Now whenever we open up an EMR a box pops up where you have to specify why you want to look at the chart. Very annoying...

The VA system CPRS has certain profiles flagged - usually the ones with mental illnesses (schizophrenia, history of sexual abuse, suicidality) or VA employees - and you have to click an extra 1-2 times to get into those.

 

[NickNaylor]

I wouldn't do it. You have a right to see your EMR, so why not just go through the normal process all patients go through?

 

[seap3]

At our hospital we can look up our own records if we have signed a release.

Your best bet is to ask them what the procedure is.