Am I that much lazier than every one else? I'm not sure I would take the time to report them even if there was $20 in it for me. I'd probably look at it, be like what the F... then say oh well and throw it away.

2/19/2010 8:47:50 PM

Quote :

"If they communicate that information to the patient thats one thing, communicating it to another person in an attempt to resolve a bill, is fucking terrible. They fucked up and the person he talked to didn't have any trouble handing out data to someone who wasnt the patient. I work in the healthcare industry and if we sent out account info for some of our clients' members incorrectly like that we'd be crucified, and rightly so. If the original patient left the OP's address as his point of contact thats one thing, but it sounds like the doc went out of his way to track this guy down for a bill and didn't bother to confrim the address before sending it. Thats exactly what HIPAA is designed to prevent. Its not just to prevent people selling data, its about making sure docs are careful with the info. If the doc takes a hit because of this, its too damned bad. Hire better people, make sure you drill privacy protection laws into their heads. I know you aren't a big government guy and neither am I for the most part, but this is something that exists to protect all people and unlike SoX its not some terrible burden. Its mostly common sense stuff put in place to protect people. If this was mailed to someone less scrupulous they could use it to get other info out of this doc's office and do some identity theft."

patient name, phone number, and address fall under incidental disclosure as that information could be found out without access to medical records. information sent unintentionally to the wrong individual because of clerical errors can also be protected if the document is prefaced indicating that said information is privileged. the information that he got in the mail was probably not even sent to him from the actual doctor's office, rather whatever company manages the office's insurance claims.

no, this isn't something you should report but it is something you will want to sort out. you'll eventually have the bill sold to a collections agency if it goes delinquent for too long. call them again but instead just say you're receiving bills for someone else and not out and say you have the same name. I'm thinking the retard at the office just got confused and thought you were wondering why you were getting billed, not why the wrong guy is getting the bills.

2/19/2010 10:02:08 PM