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Home Health & Hospice Week

Patient Privacy:

Avoid These HIPAA Land Mines For Your Clinicians' Cell Phones

Published on Tue Aug 16, 2011

Are staffers communicating via text or mobile phone? Make sure they're HIPAA-compliant. Mobile phones may go hand-in-hand with providing home care, but when it comes to HIPAA safety, these ubiquitous devices can be a thorn in your side. Make sure your visiting staffers are using cell phones in a HIPAA-appropriate way with these quick tips. Scenario: Your clinician needs the latest information about the patient. Can you text her with a patient's protected health information (PHI), or is that forbidden? The facts: Technically, texting the information is not illegal under HIPAA, but it might not be allowed under your state law -- and could put your agency at risk either way. "There are at least two sets of laws to consider here -- HIPAA and state law," says Stephen W. Bernstein of McDermott Will & Emery in Boston. "If the state law is more protective, it wins." Therefore, your first order of [...]
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