Recycled Medical Records Used As Scrap Paper At Elementary School

Parents with students at Hale Elementary School in Minneapolis have found something interesting on the back of their children's pictures hanging on the fridge, detailed medical information. From the article: "Jennifer Kane was tidying her dining room when she found the drawing by her daughter, Keely, who goes to Hale Elementary School. On the back of the paper was the name, birth date and detailed medical information for a 24-year-old St. Paul woman named Paula White. 'The more I read it, the more alarmed I became about the amount of information I had about this person,' said Kane." The security lapse has been blamed on a paralegal donating the paper to the school.

Comments

First medical record post!

[GameboyRMH]

Look in the source code of this comment for detailed medical records!

HIPAA fail

[akeeneye]

There's got to be a massive fine coming for this.

Re:HIPAA fail

[Alan Shutko]

Maybe not... The law firm is probably not a HIPAA covered agency. If the law firm got the records because their client was a covered entity, they might be in trouble under HIPAA. If they got the records because they were suing a covered entity, they probably aren't in trouble under HIPAA. They'd still be in trouble for disclosing private information, though.

Here's a writeup.

Re:HIPAA fail

[Talderas]

There is no maybe about it. If the law firm is representing a covered entity then they have to comply with HIPAA regulations. This has been the case since February 17, 2010.

You are also right on if the lawyer was not representing a covered entity. If they had acquired the information while representing a client bringing a lawsuit against a hospital then they aren't covered by HIPAA.

Re:HIPAA fail

[Talderas]

You aren't going to be able to sue a medical center and get all medical records for all patients. It's unlikely that you would get any records other than your own health records.

What happened here is a pretty clear chain of events as to how it happened.

Here's the facts. Many (exact number unknown) pieces of scrap paper contained medical information. All that information originated from Sawicki and Phelps. Ms. White had hired them after she was in a car accident.

The last fact heavily suggests that these attorneys are personal injury attorneys and possibly medical malpractice attorneys. They are going to need to have the medical records for their clients in order to build a case. This leads me to believe that all medical information disclosed by them were all clients of the law firm seeking restitution for injuries sustained.

It's really not even a loophole at all. It's a possible consequence of giving your medical information to a group not covered by HIPAA.

The only difference between this and giving your medical information to the guy that gets your Starbucks in the morning is that at least lawyers have the bar association and other organizations which may keep them in line regarding private information. That and a lawyer without clients because he keeps giving out their private info would be a lawyer without clients.

Re:HIPAA fail

[gstoddart]

Maybe not... The law firm is probably not a HIPAA covered agency.

Really? That's somewhat appalling ... so the easiest way to sidestep these regulations is to give it to someone who isn't covered by them?

I realize that's a gross simplification, but I should think that getting information covered under such a law would extend obligations to you. This information is covered under HIPAA ... you've been given this information ... therefore you have obligations under HIPAA.

I mean, it's not like someone can give me Classified information and suddenly I'm free to do with it as I please.

Sadly, I fear my version is probably more abstract and less likely to be that way in practice.

Re:HIPAA fail

[Talderas]

I don't think you understand the purpose of HIPAA.

HIPAA is designed to dictate both how covered entities that can collect your PHI have to handle your PHI but mostly it's to cover the instances under which a covered entity can share your PHI with third parties without your permission with all other cases requiring your permission.

There is no way for a covered entity (medical provider) to sidestep HIPAA by giving it to some 3rd party without first obtaining your permission. If they could give it without permission then the entity receiving the PHI is going to be covered under HIPAA as well either as a covered entity or a business associate.

Re:HIPAA fail

[hairyfeet]

Hell the scary part for me is how many are supposed to be protecting those records don't even follow best practices! My mom was a popular charge nurse at a local hospital so i got to know the IT guy and his crew pretty decently. So a few years back he goes 'Hey you wanna have a ton of machines to strip? Back up the truck" and sure enough he loads 30 or so nice boxes onto my truck. Well i figure I'll get home and find the drives gone but nope, all still there with ALL THE DATA. i thought it was nice he trusted me but more than a little scary too.

I'm also buddies with the apt super who is also the super at a bunch of office complexes in the area. he called me awhile back and said 'If you want a ton of boxes for parts get over here before the garbage man gets 'em" and sure enough the local teleco he supers for had put a mound of nice late P4s and early duals out for scrap. again when I get home with 'em and check ALL the drives are there and the CC data wasn't even encrypted!

I used to be amazed at the stories of some megacorp losing tons of data but frankly I just can't be surprised anymore, it seems like nobody bothers to do even basic due diligence. When I was working corp I got permission to give our old machines to a shelter for abused women but before a single box left my shop I had DOD 7 wiped the drive and installed a clean disc image for the shelter with their programs. the thought of just letting a box go straight from the floor to the back of someone's truck, even someone i knew, would have gave me a heart attack!

I can see it now...

[Moheeheeko]

"Mommy, whats 'anal hemorrhoids'?"

Re:I can see it now...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Mommy, whats 'anal hemorrhoids'?"

A much better condition than 'oral hemorrhoids'.

Re:HIPAA uber-violation

[MyLongNickName]

I am sure the school carefully checked over the scrap paper being donated. Some teacher probably got a box full of paper, took a quick look and was just thankful her funding-starved school got some paper. Otherwise, she'd have had to buy some out of her own paycheck like many teachers do...

Re:HIPAA uber-violation

[sribe]

Someone should be fired immediately. And was there no one at the school that noticed this?

School teachers are not responsible for HIPAA compliance ;-)

Re:Hospitals are getting better at privacy

[SJHillman]

But now it's passed to 3rd parties AND 3rd graders!

Makes Sense

[Waffle Iron]

Three decades ago when I was in high school, they loaded our PDP-8's line printer with the the back sides of boring inventory reports from some manufacturing company.

However, now that we don't manufacturer anything in the USA any more, and our entire economy is becoming nothing more than a mix of healthcare providers and consumers, they *have* to use old health records for printer paper in schools. There's nothing else to use.

Re:Paralegal?

[Stargoat]

I can tell you exactly what happened. There were two boxes next to the copier, one which was for the "special needs" children in school, and the other for materials to be shredded. Someone dumped some papers with PII into the "special need" children box when they should have gone into the shred box. Then, more documents without PII were dumped into the "special need" children box. When the school came calling for paper as they do once a month, the paralegal grabbed the "special need" children box and gave it to the school, giving the documents a cursory glance.

More than likely, the arrogant lawyer who will just dump his papers wherever because he's too busy to actually pay attention is the culprit. The poor paralegal will get the shaft, the "special need" children box will get removed, and we will all move on feeling wiser - except the "special need" children, who no longer will get paper either with or without PII.

Re:HIPAA uber-violation

[supercrisp]

Yep. I'm a public university professor, and I regularly have to make copies on the back of once-used paper because we run out of money for paper. I've also been told I need to buy my own printer if I want access to a printer. I'm also being asked to pay for my own inter-library loan articles. Some of our faculty offices have holes in the wall large enough to stick your hand outside and check the weather. (I can't believe I'm not making that one up. But, yep, just looked out window to verify: Prof. Z's office has a fist-sized hole all the way thru the wall; the boards have just rotted away.) Money is getting tight. Unless it's for a new football stadium, which I can see from my window is coming along nicely. (Note to parents: DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN GET A GRADUATE DEGREE IN HISTORY, ENGLISH, GEOGRAPHY, OR ANY OF THE HUMANITIES!)

Re:HIPAA uber-violation

[orgelspieler]

We've bought a few advanced projectors on mobile cats...

At my school we had mobile projector cats, too. It was hard to keep those little monsters still through an entire lecture, though. Especially when the teacher pulled out the laser pointer.