General Is this a HIPPA Violation?

[GoSpursGo]

This is gonna sound really dumb but here we go...

Is it a hippa violation to go into a family member's chart with their permission? I thought with permission it would be fine, but I later looked this up and found out it wasn't. What should I do in this case? Im a med student.

Yes, it is 100% a HIPPA violation.

Probably do nothing and hope you don't get caught. If you do get caught, then apologize profusely.

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[GoSpursGo]

Thank you for your response. I was just trying to get a better handle on how epic works and ended up opening a telephone encounter or something that I cannot delete (being clumsy as hell trying to navigate the environment). Should I still just ignore it as it was a one time mistake?

Yes. If someone ever approaches you about it, just say that you made a mistake as you were learning EPIC and immediately closed the chart.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

The answer to the OP's question is a bit more nuanced.

If you actually have permission from the patient to go into their chart, then it's not a HIPAA violation. However, that permission should be in writing, and should be filed in the medical record. Usually, the best way to do this (and especially in Epic) is in the MyChart portal -- you apply for permission to access someone else's MyChart, and once all the paperwork is complete you'll be able to see all the notes, labs, etc. Almost everything is in the portal.

Just having verbal permission is not good enough.

Actually accessing the chart itself, even if you have written permission, may not be allowed by your hospital's local policies. So although it may not be a HIPAA violation, it may still be a problem and violate your institution's chart access policies. Many places will require that you do so through the portal, which is easier to track and control (and also allows the patient to decline to release something to the portal that they don't want you to see).

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Most hospitals (and even labs like LabCorp/Quest for example) do not allow you to look at family members, or even your own, info sometimes. If you had permission from the person, then technically not HIPAA violation, but they may ask you what you were doing in that chart. If they do, just apologize and tell them what you were doing.

We had a resident bird-dogging the ED board and looking up x-rays before and they got called into the admin office at the hospital for looking up random patient's XR that we weren't consulted on...so they DO watch your activity. Only go into the patient's charts that you are caring for.