atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information HIPAA and Speakerphones/All Page

Are there any HIPPA regulations regarding what/how speakerphones or paging can be used in a medical facitlity. Obviously you cannot all call page a patients medical history, but are there any specific regulations for this. Case in point, customer has wireless IP phones that have PTT (push-to-talk) capabilities. However, when this is utilized, EVERY wireless set recieves this "page", there is no way to just call one phone other than a direct intercom call. They want to utilize this and instruct the staff that it is only to be used for emergencies, ie. fire in the building. Ya right, I know better, once the staff figures this out, they will be using it for everything. I think Im probably looking way too far into this but im just curious.

Basically if anyone not "authorized" to hear the regulated information happens to hear the audio, then you are in violation of the regulation.

It's a "learned" experience.

In the same manner that it's an understanding that a patient chart is not left out in public view, so the end-user would need to be "trained" by their superiors the proper use of the equipment.

Under most circumstances it would be hard to believe that a medical professionsal would just blurt out private information.

For a little light reading, here is the Horses Mouth:

Healthcare Privacy Rule

I've dealt with this some for some medical claims companies. HIPAA's primary role is similar to PCI's credit card compliance. They place the bulk of the regulations on the secured storage and handling of the data/documents.

As far as audio goes, if you aren't recording it, there's not much of a restriction to transmitting it as there is to the parties privy to the transmission. So, like others have pointed out, it's a training issue. The nurses and doctors have to be trained to not discuss a file on speaker page or PTT.

I have a friend who works in a big-city hospital. After HIPAA, they pretty much had to change the way they do everything, and wound up having to create an entire department that does nothing but enforce the new regs. They are constantly discovering some new hole in their procedures that must be plugged in order to stay compliant. So no, you aren't looking too far into it, you are right to be concerned. I think, though, that your responsibility in this is limited to informing the customer of the possible compliance issues concerning their use of the system you furnish, and beyond that, it really is their job to comply. Unless, of course, you are advertising up front that your system is HIPAA compliant, then it is something you should be concerned about.

I'm all in favor of protecting medical privacy, but some of the hoops they have to jump through at my friend's hospital seem kind of silly. But that is a subject for a different thread, entitled "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.

"I'm all in favor of protecting medical privacy, but some of the hoops they have to jump through at my friend's hospital seem kind of silly. But that is a subject for a different thread, entitled "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.""
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AKA "BOHICA".