anyone know why the media and journalists won't discuss topics like this?

ASURVIVORJanuary 16, 2018 at 9:53 AM

One of the damnedest things is the amazing pomposity of clerical front office staff and receptionists (sometimes not even high school grads) demanding a full description of conditions and symptoms from patient calling or asking in person to make an appointment. This severely violates the patient's privacy rights and leads to dangerous medical decisions and/or advice made by the least competent bureaucratic level in a medical office. TOO OFTEN, THE LONGER they work there, the more prone to make medical decisions and to want to trade in medical information. The risk to the patient's privacy is obvious. But far worse is the full blown Napoleonic Complex many develop, producing favoritism, antagonism and the imbecilic issue of bad medical advice. And still worse, the discussion of patients and their conditions in jest, in derision or a self-serving manner seem to me like grounds for dismissal of that clerical person. While it is now clear that medical practices are made or broken, more by the traits of the non-medical front office clerical staff with whom patients interact, and despite the fact that a sick person anxiously seeking medical care should not be submitted to a receptionist's personality traits or serve as an outlet for the receptionist's mood, too often this is the case, encouraged by the common practice of calling patients by their first name without ever asking permission to do so. Indeed, practices do seem to be made or broken by the front office and, worst still, imbecilic favoritism and priority is practiced based on the “I am Caesar” sense of some little clerk. A patient, ill and anxious, should not be subjected to the thuggery and social deficiency of unskilled minimum wage receptionists in a physician's office. It is too deleterious to the critical doctor-patient relationship. Illness and the associated anxiety deserved professional and compassionate interaction when all a patient wants and needs to do is see the physician.

http://blog.securitymetrics.com/2015/08/reception-desks-hipaa-compromise.html

What can patients see on your reception desk?

By: Brand Barney

Your reception desk might be one of the most vulnerable locations in your entire organization. Why? Every patient you treat walks up to the reception desk and discusses their visit with the receptionist for at least a minute or two. What do they see when their eyes wander around that reception desk? What do they hear? What can they grab? Take a photo of?

Here are some more ideas that will help you keep your reception desk free and clear.

• Stand where your customers check in, walk the path they walk, and see if you can see any sensitive information, in any form.
• Stand at the reception desk and try to locate any administrative information that might assist a hacker to gain access to your system (like your EHR password)
• If you ever write something on paper, immediately turn it over, or place it in a locked drawer
• Pull out your phone, put in on the desk. What can you take photos of? I always recommend that you have a no phone policy at the front desk policy.

Many HIPAA impermissible disclosures are related to human error, and occur by accident. However, that also means most instances are avoidable. With the right procedures and training in place, you should be able to make sure your reception desk area is violation-free and HIPAA compliant.