Technically, HIPPA doesn't apply to this, since it's a U.S. law and this happened in Canada, but here goes:
Exact change only please
I was at the walk-in clinic, and a woman walked up to the registration desk. This clinic handles a number of non-OHIP issues, and doesn't take plastic for those (listed fees are all a multiple of $10). She was rather upset that the desk staff wouldn't make change, expecting exact change only (staff told her to go to the pharmacy/convenience store in the same building). She asked if anyone in the room could make change for her (no takers), and finally left to get change. When she was gone, I commented that with the fees being a multiple of $10 it would not be unusual to expect exact change, and that only taking exact change would allow for a fairly common security measure - payments dropped through a slot in a lock box that nobody on the premises had keys to. The receptionist replied "That's exactly what we do".
That could leak information
Another patient came back to the reception desk after seeing one of the doctors, and asked for an explanation of their prescription. In a normal conversational voice, the receptionist told them to take 4 pills now, and the other 4 in 12 hours. IANAD, but it seems to me that an unusual dosage and frequency would narrow down the list of treatments, so that someone with a bit of medical knowledge would have a good chance of guessing the patient's condition. After the patient left, I asked the receptionist (seemed to be new - he kept asking co-workers how to do things) whether he realized that what he had said could leak information that would be covered by doctor-patient confidentiality (as opposed to a common dosage like "1 pill 3 times per day", which could be any one of hundreds of treatments). He hadn't realized that.
Any medical staff, how serious a breach would giving the dosage information (medication not stated) have been in this case, i.e. roughly how many conditions would have a treatment that involves 8 pills taken in 2 batches of 4, 12 hours apart?
Exact change only please
I was at the walk-in clinic, and a woman walked up to the registration desk. This clinic handles a number of non-OHIP issues, and doesn't take plastic for those (listed fees are all a multiple of $10). She was rather upset that the desk staff wouldn't make change, expecting exact change only (staff told her to go to the pharmacy/convenience store in the same building). She asked if anyone in the room could make change for her (no takers), and finally left to get change. When she was gone, I commented that with the fees being a multiple of $10 it would not be unusual to expect exact change, and that only taking exact change would allow for a fairly common security measure - payments dropped through a slot in a lock box that nobody on the premises had keys to. The receptionist replied "That's exactly what we do".
That could leak information
Another patient came back to the reception desk after seeing one of the doctors, and asked for an explanation of their prescription. In a normal conversational voice, the receptionist told them to take 4 pills now, and the other 4 in 12 hours. IANAD, but it seems to me that an unusual dosage and frequency would narrow down the list of treatments, so that someone with a bit of medical knowledge would have a good chance of guessing the patient's condition. After the patient left, I asked the receptionist (seemed to be new - he kept asking co-workers how to do things) whether he realized that what he had said could leak information that would be covered by doctor-patient confidentiality (as opposed to a common dosage like "1 pill 3 times per day", which could be any one of hundreds of treatments). He hadn't realized that.
Any medical staff, how serious a breach would giving the dosage information (medication not stated) have been in this case, i.e. roughly how many conditions would have a treatment that involves 8 pills taken in 2 batches of 4, 12 hours apart?
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