I would love to see HIPAA challenged in this way as well!!
I have had numerous problems with providing consistent care for my mother because HIPAA has interfered so much with the communication between myself and the health care providers including her doctors. My mother is confused and does not always remember everything she tells people and especially does not remember what the doctors and nurses tell her. I am the person that has to keep everything straight and consistent.
Just this last week was the straw that broke the camels back. My mother was discharged from the hospital and resumed her home health care with a visiting nurse. My mother told them not to call me because I am pregnant and she was trying to "protect me" so that I did not worry or have stress. I am the person who normally puts out my mothers medications in her dispensers and I go to the pharmacy to get them re-filled. The visiting nurse decided that my mother needed refills (she did not but the nurse did not look for the new bottles of medication). The nurse then talked my mother into transferring her prescriptions to a new pharmacy because she said it would be easier and cheaper. The nurse then had my mother call her doctor and request that all of her prescriptions be called into this new pharmacy. The prescriptions were then filled and delivered to my mother with a bill of $305. My mother in her confusion just simply wrote a check not knowing that she did not have this amount of money available in her account. My mother in her confusion also failed to tell the nurse that I had just filled her prescriptions before she went in the hospital and there were full bottles in the drawer. The nurse also ordered diabetic supplies that my mother already had plenty of. There were only one or two things that my mother would have needed to order but the nurse took it upon herself to order everything at an expense my mother could not afford. The nurse interfered with a process that was already in place and that she knew nothing about... she did not know that one medication was billed to a different insurance and I had already arranged the prior authorization at the pharmacy we always use, consequently, my mother was billed $98 for a medication that should have cost her nothing, not to mention that my mother had a full bottle of this medication in the drawer already. Had they contacted me this would not have happened.
When I found out about this, I called the home health care company and read them the riot act. Their response to me was that my mother needed medication and that because of HIPAA, they could not contact me about her medications even though they know that I am the one who takes care of that. I find this to be ironic because they had no trouble calling and leaving messages on my phone telling me that they need to re-establish her home health visits now that "she is out of the hospital"... (a hospital visit that I was not to know about because my mother did not want to cause me stress!) Hmmm.... seems like that phone call was actually a violation of HIPAA?
Well my concern is not the violations of the HIPAA law as much as how HIPAA violates continuity of care and violates the patient, family and physician relationship. I am frustrated because since the advent of HIPAA, I have slowly been pushed out of the circle of care for my mother and yet I am expected to care for her. I have taken her check book from her to prevent this from happening again and I am obtaining a durable power of attorney. I was told by the home health care company that even with a durable power they will not call me for anything if my mother does not give them permission to call even though they know she is confused!
The State that this occured in is Nevada.
I have had numerous problems with providing consistent care for my mother because HIPAA has interfered so much with the communication between myself and the health care providers including her doctors. My mother is confused and does not always remember everything she tells people and especially does not remember what the doctors and nurses tell her. I am the person that has to keep everything straight and consistent.
Just this last week was the straw that broke the camels back. My mother was discharged from the hospital and resumed her home health care with a visiting nurse. My mother told them not to call me because I am pregnant and she was trying to "protect me" so that I did not worry or have stress. I am the person who normally puts out my mothers medications in her dispensers and I go to the pharmacy to get them re-filled. The visiting nurse decided that my mother needed refills (she did not but the nurse did not look for the new bottles of medication). The nurse then talked my mother into transferring her prescriptions to a new pharmacy because she said it would be easier and cheaper. The nurse then had my mother call her doctor and request that all of her prescriptions be called into this new pharmacy. The prescriptions were then filled and delivered to my mother with a bill of $305. My mother in her confusion just simply wrote a check not knowing that she did not have this amount of money available in her account. My mother in her confusion also failed to tell the nurse that I had just filled her prescriptions before she went in the hospital and there were full bottles in the drawer. The nurse also ordered diabetic supplies that my mother already had plenty of. There were only one or two things that my mother would have needed to order but the nurse took it upon herself to order everything at an expense my mother could not afford. The nurse interfered with a process that was already in place and that she knew nothing about... she did not know that one medication was billed to a different insurance and I had already arranged the prior authorization at the pharmacy we always use, consequently, my mother was billed $98 for a medication that should have cost her nothing, not to mention that my mother had a full bottle of this medication in the drawer already. Had they contacted me this would not have happened.
When I found out about this, I called the home health care company and read them the riot act. Their response to me was that my mother needed medication and that because of HIPAA, they could not contact me about her medications even though they know that I am the one who takes care of that. I find this to be ironic because they had no trouble calling and leaving messages on my phone telling me that they need to re-establish her home health visits now that "she is out of the hospital"... (a hospital visit that I was not to know about because my mother did not want to cause me stress!) Hmmm.... seems like that phone call was actually a violation of HIPAA?
Well my concern is not the violations of the HIPAA law as much as how HIPAA violates continuity of care and violates the patient, family and physician relationship. I am frustrated because since the advent of HIPAA, I have slowly been pushed out of the circle of care for my mother and yet I am expected to care for her. I have taken her check book from her to prevent this from happening again and I am obtaining a durable power of attorney. I was told by the home health care company that even with a durable power they will not call me for anything if my mother does not give them permission to call even though they know she is confused!
The State that this occured in is Nevada.
ellencee said: