Naomi Brockwell : You Have No Medical Privacy (HIPAA privacy myth)

Privacy
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tldw?

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The US HIPAA (health insurance portability and accountability act) was introduced with the intention to enable sharing of medical records without patient consent, not protect medical privacy. Access to medical records was limited by state-based laws, but HIPAA blew away many of these state-based protections. HHS (Department of Health and Human Services), the government agency that wrote HIPAA, enabled sharing of medical records asserting that privacy must be balanced with socially useful purposes. Many patients and people who work in healthcare have no idea HIPAA doesn’t protect medical privacy. The reality today is patients’ privacy is violated when they seek medical care, and patients are put under pressure to choose between privacy and health.

Naomi Brockwell recommends

  • Do whatever you need to to receive medical attention; don’t put your health in jeopardy. (Refusing to sign a form might cause the clinic to refuse to treat you, even though refusing to treat is illegal.)
  • Be aware the clinic is probably not deserving of being protested, the entire system needs to be changed.
  • Educate the clinic about HIPAA and other relevant laws.
  • Refuse to sign the privacy notice form. (Signing is not a legal requirement, and refusing provides a stronger legal standing to file complaints.)
  • Ask for a paper copy of what you are about to sign, read the entire thing, and cross out terms on the notice/consent form you disagree with before you sign it.
  • Write “under duress” as your signature, then photograph the signature and form, if you are under pressure to sign a harmful notice/consent form.
  • File a HIPAA violation complaint with HHS Office of Civil Rights if mistreated or subjected to coercion.
  • Choose a privacy-respecting clinic.

Naomi Brockwell mentions The Wedge of Health Freedom, an alliance of US health practices. The website lists close to 500 practices.

The Wedge is leading the way to affordable patient-centered, interference-free care. Cash-based practices make their own rules, but doctors in The Wedge follow eight “Wedge Principles”:

  • Transparent, Affordable Pricing
  • Freedom to Choose
  • True Patient Privacy
  • No Government Reporting
  • No Outside Interference
  • Cash-Based Pricing
  • Protected Patient-Doctor Relationship
  • All Patients Welcome
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Please note that those aren’t consent form, just acknowledgment forms.

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lol

noted

This is brilliant to know.

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There are consent forms too. Patients should read through them carefully before signing. The video said consent forms often have yes/no selectors for each thing the patient should choose whether or not to consent to.

My interpretation is the notice form is something that gives practices evidence that they complied with HIPAA, the legal requirement to give a privacy notice to the patient, which patients are not obliged to sign. The consent form is about which medical procedures the patient consents to, which patients must sign or else practices may face legal issues if they treat the patient.

The video said some practices combine the notice form and consent form and provide just one signature box. In such cases, the practice may be attempting to make patients “agree” to things against their interest.

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This is correct. You can also just bar the HIPAA notice form part.