[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Release of Info on "Terminally Inconvenienced" Persons



On Wed, 14 Aug 2002 09:10:17 -0500, Lesley W. Brunet
<lwbrunet@MAIL.MDANDERSON.ORG> wrote:

And frankly, down the
>road, I don't want my medical records to be open to every Tom Dick and
Harry
>that comes into an archives.

Actually it is more than just in the archives. Within the last six months
there was a case out of Florida (reported in RAIN) about a defunct medical
clinic that abandoned their patient files in a self-storage unit. The state
warehousemen's law allowed the facility to auction off the records.
surprise!

Another case out of Florida involved a pharmacy chain sharing customer
records with a pharmaceutical company. This company then sent targeted
mailings to specific individuals because of their medical condition.

I haven't had a chance to read the new regulations, but the really key part
of the regulations for archives and records centers is the Business
associate section. I highly recommend that all concerned download a copy of
the regulations and read them and reread them. There are also some very
severe penalties in them for failure to follow the regulations (at least in
the previous version not sure about the current version).

It is a boring read, but let me suggest that if you have healthcare records
in your archives that you read the regulations and then prepare a short
white paper for your administration that lines out how you see the
regulations affecting your operations. Be sure to copy the organization's
legal counsel et al.

Peterk

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>