1. HIPAA and Professionalism In an age of electronic mediums

2. Mass General Hospital Settles Potential HIPAA Violations  The incident giving rise to the agreement involved the loss of protected health information (PHI) of 192 patients of Mass General’s Infectious Disease Associates outpatient practice, including patients with HIV/AIDS..

3. Mass General Hospital Settles Potential HIPAA Violations  $1,000,000 to Feds  Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to implement policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy of its patients.

4. HIPAA  Even at UVA this occurs.  Several weeks ago Medical Student finds Resident H&P on ground in 14 th street garage.  Clinical talks with images – left on outside institution server

5. Safeguards Needed  Do not take PHI material off grounds or leave in public areas on grounds (bathrooms, meetings, cafeteria)  Whenever possible erase PHI  On PACS click the easel icon under G/M tab.  PDF of notes…blacken out the PHI  Password protect  Jump Drives and Laptops

6. Credant and your Jump Drive  After applying Credant, create a 7 digit password and a PHI folder on the jump drive.  Place files with PHI in the PHI folder.  Only files stored in the PHI folder will be encrypted by Credant.  Off Health System Network  Can use and edit non- PHI files without Credant password  On Health System Network  Will need to use your Credant password in order to write ANY data to Jump Drive

7. Find a HIPAA Violation? Report to Office of Compliance and Privacy

8. Professionalism  The internet allows you to post  Pictures of patients  Pictures of your colleagues  Cell phones allow you to MMS pictures to others or send by email.  Digital cameras allow you to send by email

9. Photographs of Patients  Use of patient for photographs require patient consent and must be documented in medical record  This includes cell phone photography  This applies to photography that does not identify the patient (e.g. limbs)  Photographs for clinical care (to be posted in EPIC) still require consent.

10. Photographs of Colleagues  Think before posting pictures of colleagues.  The person is often identifiable  The location is often identifiable  Is the colleague acting professionally in your picture?  Do you really want the public to see a non- professional moment.

11. Professionalism  In the age of electronic medium news travels at the speed of electrons.  Think before your take pictures on your cell phone, PDA, camera  Do you have permission from patients?  Is this for education purposes?  Think before you hit the send button.  Are there unintended consequences?