FullArrest
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**SORRY FOR THE LONG POST, BUT THIS WAS A BIT OF A COMPLEX SITUATION**
I work a lot of private events as a means for some extra income. I have often come across organizations (especially professional level sports organizations) which have their own medical paperwork (entirely risk management tools) that they like hired EMS personnel to fill out.
These forms always include (at the very least) the patients first and last name and will sometimes include contact information such as address and telephone number. The forms also request information regarding the incident including description of illness/injury.
I have never filled out one of these forms and generally advise officials from whichever organization publishes them to have one of their people fill them out as long as the patient directly consents to them and as long as their questioning does not interfere with my care of the patient.
I recently worked with an EMT with >20 years experience who advised me that filling out these forms is not a violation of HIPAA because the patients are either athletes who have signed releases with the organization or patrons who are on private property. Furthermore, he stated that since the only demographic information on the forms was the patients first and last name.
While I see the logic in the first argument, we never saw any such release. As far as patrons on private property, I really don't see how that serves as an exemption.
Either way, we treated several patients, all of whom my partner filled out the private agency paperwork on despite my protest. All patients except for one were injured while participating in the event and were subsequently transported to local hospitals. The final one was sent to an area hospital with severe, sudden onset RLQ pain. None of these patients were advised that their information would be released to the organization that sponsored the event.
I attempted to talk my partner out of filling out these forms, but he stated that he knew "a lot" about HIPAA and suggested that I read up on it. I argued with him that after a few years in the emergency department and 7 years in medical offices, that I was at least fairly well versed and that I felt uncomfortable with him releasing the information.
He ended up filling out the forms and submitting them to the organization that sponsored the event.
Am I crazy here, or what? The situation seemed pretty clear to me, but I figured I would run it by some other people and get some ideas about how others would have handled the situation.
I work a lot of private events as a means for some extra income. I have often come across organizations (especially professional level sports organizations) which have their own medical paperwork (entirely risk management tools) that they like hired EMS personnel to fill out.
These forms always include (at the very least) the patients first and last name and will sometimes include contact information such as address and telephone number. The forms also request information regarding the incident including description of illness/injury.
I have never filled out one of these forms and generally advise officials from whichever organization publishes them to have one of their people fill them out as long as the patient directly consents to them and as long as their questioning does not interfere with my care of the patient.
I recently worked with an EMT with >20 years experience who advised me that filling out these forms is not a violation of HIPAA because the patients are either athletes who have signed releases with the organization or patrons who are on private property. Furthermore, he stated that since the only demographic information on the forms was the patients first and last name.
While I see the logic in the first argument, we never saw any such release. As far as patrons on private property, I really don't see how that serves as an exemption.
Either way, we treated several patients, all of whom my partner filled out the private agency paperwork on despite my protest. All patients except for one were injured while participating in the event and were subsequently transported to local hospitals. The final one was sent to an area hospital with severe, sudden onset RLQ pain. None of these patients were advised that their information would be released to the organization that sponsored the event.
I attempted to talk my partner out of filling out these forms, but he stated that he knew "a lot" about HIPAA and suggested that I read up on it. I argued with him that after a few years in the emergency department and 7 years in medical offices, that I was at least fairly well versed and that I felt uncomfortable with him releasing the information.
He ended up filling out the forms and submitting them to the organization that sponsored the event.
Am I crazy here, or what? The situation seemed pretty clear to me, but I figured I would run it by some other people and get some ideas about how others would have handled the situation.