Practice Management Alert
Pay Attention to Voicemail Salutations
Question: Today my colleague called someone to report their COVID test results, left a voicemail detailing the results, and got a call back that our office had the wrong number. Did she violate HIPAA? When I asked her, she said she noticed that the voicemail greeting mentioned someone else’s name but left the message anyway. New York Subscriber Answer: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that it’s OK to leave a message on a patient’s answering machine (or voicemail), in some circumstances. HHS says on its website: “ … the Rule does not prohibit covered entities from leaving messages for patients on their answering machines. However, to reasonably safeguard the individual’s privacy, covered entities should take care to limit the amount of information disclosed on the answering machine. For example, a covered entity might want to consider leaving only its name and number and other information necessary to confirm an appointment, or ask the individual to call back.” Providing test results in a voicemail is risky, especially in this case, where the phone number did not actually belong to the patient. If leaving a message for a patient over voicemail, pay attention to the greeting, and if the name doesn’t match the patient’s think carefully about disclosing any protected health information (PHI), which includes test results. Find more information from HHS here: www.hhs.gov/hipaa/ for-professionals/faq/198/may-health-care-providers-leave-messages/index.html.
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Pay Attention to Voicemail Salutations
Question: Today my colleague called someone to report their COVID test results, left a voicemail detailing [...]
