A coworker called in after a holiday. the company called her doctor to find out why she was out. HIPAA violat

the coworker call in to work because her son broke his toe and needed medical treatment. As the employer does not allow time off for a child her doc wrote out an excuse for her that she was unable to work. The employer contact the docs office and obtained the real reason she was off. Is this a violation of HIPAA? they used this information to deny her holiday pay.

There is a really fine line here as to whether or not there was a HIPAA violation. Did the facility merely confirm that she brought her son in for treatment, or did they release actual information regarding the type of medical treatment he received? If the facility just confirmed that her son is an actual patient of that facility, that could be a privacy violation. Either way, they are leaving themselves wide open for a potential law suit. The co-worker may have a legitimate case here if she wanted to sue her health care facility, depending on the specifics of the information that was released. As far as the employer, I'm not sure if he committed a violation; there again, that's another fine line. I suppose that would be up to your local Labor Board to decide. My wife owns a medical transcription company where she basically types (or transcribes) the doctor's notes from all the patients the doctor sees. We have to be 100% HIPAA compliant, if not we could lose our business license. We are not allowed to disclose any patient's name, their doctor's name, or ANY information regarding their medical care. My wife also does not disclose the names of doctors for whom she transcribes. She has had doctors ask her what other physicians she has as clients, and she simply tells them that it is her policy not to release that information.

that is definitely a violation to HIPAA! I'm not sure who she needs to call, but she needs to find out and report it. The doctors office will receive a pretty big fine for that, and I bet they don't do that again!

Absolutely! This is a violation of the HIPAA. The one and only person who any medical professional or office staff may give any medical information to is the patient, and they must identify themselves by answering a few personal questions. Below is the link to find out what your coworker can do because of this violation.
www.hippa.org