Wiki Is this a breach?

[NDobos]

We sent out a mass mailing to patients of a provider who is leaving. In the process of creating the labels the addresses shifted down 1 person. So Mrs. A Jones envelope had the address of Mrs. B Jones who had the address of Mrs. C Jones and so on down the list. The letter was exactly the same letter without any patient information. Is the fact that all the Jones know they each have seen this doctor a breach? Of note this is NOT mental health.

 

[thomas7331]

Based on my understand of HIPAA regulations, I would not consider it a breach, for the reasons you state, i.e. that the letters did not contain any patient information, and would think it's unlikely to be a compliance violation. However, I am not an attorney; with something like this, it might be best to run it by a practice lawyer and have them review the specifics of your case to make sure of that, and also to confirm that there weren't any other privacy laws involved that might require action on your part. Discussion forums such as this are OK for generalities but not a good source to rely on for a legal opinion about something that could have consequences for your practice.