What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I am a registered nurse and worked at an IPA (Independent physicians assoc.) Insurance companies hire the company I worked for to manage care; perform ongoing medical necessity for hospitalizations, diagnostics, etc. My function was to authorize referral requests from the doctors' offices. Our company also managed the referrals for it's employees. The department manager, in order to maintain "privacy of its employees" was designated as the person to make a determination in the employee authorizations. (Although, all company-wide staff had access to view the employee health information).
I had opened my own authorization AFTER determination had been made by my the manager to see if it had been approved. It had been. There was a "contact us" typed in the authorization from my doctor asking for the surgical center be changed to a different facility. I changed the facility, documented my actions, and re-fax'd the authorization to the appropriate parties.
I was asked to come to HR a few days later and advised I was being terminated as I had "violated HIPPA" regulations. My response was, "how was I violating HIPPA when it was MY own record?" Their reply was switched up to "well, it's a company policy not to be in your own records". They handed me my final paycheck and escorted me out of the building, not even letting me gather my personal belongings (which I went back for the next morning and obtained from the department manager). I have since been told by several employees there that many other employees had made changes and faxed their own authorizations without reprecussion. I feel I was wrongfully terminated not only because others in the company were allowed to do the same thing, AND because I NEVER received a verbal NOR a written reprimand.
What is your opinion???
I am a registered nurse and worked at an IPA (Independent physicians assoc.) Insurance companies hire the company I worked for to manage care; perform ongoing medical necessity for hospitalizations, diagnostics, etc. My function was to authorize referral requests from the doctors' offices. Our company also managed the referrals for it's employees. The department manager, in order to maintain "privacy of its employees" was designated as the person to make a determination in the employee authorizations. (Although, all company-wide staff had access to view the employee health information).
I had opened my own authorization AFTER determination had been made by my the manager to see if it had been approved. It had been. There was a "contact us" typed in the authorization from my doctor asking for the surgical center be changed to a different facility. I changed the facility, documented my actions, and re-fax'd the authorization to the appropriate parties.
I was asked to come to HR a few days later and advised I was being terminated as I had "violated HIPPA" regulations. My response was, "how was I violating HIPPA when it was MY own record?" Their reply was switched up to "well, it's a company policy not to be in your own records". They handed me my final paycheck and escorted me out of the building, not even letting me gather my personal belongings (which I went back for the next morning and obtained from the department manager). I have since been told by several employees there that many other employees had made changes and faxed their own authorizations without reprecussion. I feel I was wrongfully terminated not only because others in the company were allowed to do the same thing, AND because I NEVER received a verbal NOR a written reprimand.
What is your opinion???