What is the name of your state? California.
I have found out that a doctor is throwing patient records with names, addresses, and symptoms/diagnoses in the trash. How should I properly report this to the OCR? Should I recover some of these paper records from the trash (it is in a public area) and post them attached to a violation report? Is me handling these papers a HIPAA violation? Is posting these papers through USPS to the OCR a HIPAA violation? This has been ongoing for months and I want to report it for the sake of the patients but I do not want to violate the Act myself.
I have found out that a doctor is throwing patient records with names, addresses, and symptoms/diagnoses in the trash. How should I properly report this to the OCR? Should I recover some of these paper records from the trash (it is in a public area) and post them attached to a violation report? Is me handling these papers a HIPAA violation? Is posting these papers through USPS to the OCR a HIPAA violation? This has been ongoing for months and I want to report it for the sake of the patients but I do not want to violate the Act myself.