Federal law limits medical information

Last week's boating accident involving U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg and four others has many people questioning the scant medical information released about the victims.

Reporters still ask, but people with access to patients and records give guarded answers, if they give any answers at all, citing HIPAA - a federal law with medical privacy rules that took effect in April 2003.

Stacey Bradley, health information management director and privacy officer at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, explained Monday that the law limits patient condition information releases to good, fair, stable or critical.

"It's a one-word response only," she said. "That's a federal mandate."

Bradley said the hospital applies the standard equally to a congressman or private person. For the recent boating accident, she said details of injuries or treatments were not released by the hospital staff.

"Our jobs are to protect the privacy of all of our patients," she said.

HIPAA, which stands for Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, created tidal waves of paperwork and new training throughout the medical field. For most people, the most notable impact was a new privacy policy form to sign on the clipboard on the way back to their doctor's examining room.

For news gatherers, the law often bars access to details about breaking news stories as well as investigations of patient complaints. For those working in health care, the law added pages to admitting procedures as well as a potential mine field of fines and jail terms for unlawful disclosures.

Hospitals and medical clinics always protected access to medical records and warned against public discussions of private patient information.

But HIPAA raised the bar.

Bradley said she provides continuing education to staffers as well as a 30-minute orientation to new employees about sharing information.

"I stress 'need to know,'" she said.

When the privacy rules took effect in 2003, patients decided even if they wanted their names in the hospital directory. If they say no, staffers may not tell anyone - including friends, florists and pastors - of their presence in the hospital.

"Internally, your name would still show up on our census," Bradley said.

Reporters could no longer learn the names of accident victims from the hospital. Even if the name is known from other sources, the patient still must agree to allow the hospital to release information, even a one-word condition update.

According to Bradley, hospital staffers follow a process to verify identification before releasing people's own medical records to them. She said HIPAA has added extra work but she said Kalispell Regional Medical Center employees have met the challenge.

"I think we've done a great job," she said. "Patients have a right to privacy."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.