Patients are denied access to their own records in the name of HIPAA. During a recent medical crisis this happened to me. No amount of threatening or cajoling would get them to release my images to my designated 2nd opinion.
To put it simply, anyone claiming HIPAA is the reason for that is just lying (since HIPAA has no such requirement) and would invent some other excuse -- or simply refuse without explanation -- without HIPAA. In fact, HIPAA patient access requirement mandates that patients have access to, and a right to receive copies of, their records under most circumstances, and refusal to provide such access is an actionable violation of HIPAA -- without HIPAA, there would be no recourse.
Pre HIPAA I never had a problem obtaining my records. The trouble is less-knowledgeable health gatekeepers are relentlessly indoctrinated into believing that privacy is paramount. A records request that doesn't follow a rigid checklist is defaulted to REJECT. And it is in the name of protecting the patient's privacy.
dragonwriter|10 years ago
big_maybe|10 years ago