Comment on People who work in medical offices, has anyone ever called to verify a doctor note for work or school?

BradleyUffner@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• spongebue@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  There are quite a few exceptions built into HIPAA. I’m sure there would be something as you describe, but also there are things like if a crime occurred on the premises of the provider (or whatever) and they think they recognize the person in their security footage as a patient, they can give that information to law enforcement (as one would expect with non-healthcare organizations).

  Another is that if someone is talking with a patient in a double room with only a curtain separating, someone overhearing the conversation is considered incidental and not a HIPAA violation

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• vrek@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Hmmm…true

  So why does every company/school ask for a “doctors note” if they can’t?

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  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Some research shows that HIPPA does allows them to confirm the authenticity of the note and the date and time of the appointment but nothing else.

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    • vrek@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Ok, several questions… 1. Why is this some research? Shouldn’t this just be a it allows or it doesn’t allow? 2. How do they confirm it? 3. If you are the person answering the phone, why do you care? If I got a call asking if Sally visited my doctor yesterday, the answer is yes. I don’t know Sally and never met her but yup she definitely was in this office which I don’t own yesterday so she couldn’t be at your office yesterday. 4. Wait time? Why does the boss care? I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so I won’t be at work, doesn’t matter if it’s 9am, 3pm or 2:15am.

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      • Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        1. Why is this some research? Shouldn’t this just be a it allows or it doesn’t allow?

        Research can sometimes be as simple as “I googled it”

        But have you ever looked at the full text of HIPAA? Or really just about any law for that matter?

        HIPAA is something like 150 pages long, with a lot of specific details about what’s forbidden, permitted, and required under different circumstances. There’s a lot to comb over there.

        And it’s written in legalese, and there’s good reason that laws are written that way, but it is often difficult for the average person to parse.

        And there’s places where laws reference other laws, and then you may have to go look up the relevant parts of those laws to fully understand what the law you were initially looking up is trying to say.

        Point is that laws are complex and difficult for most people to understand, there’s a reason we have professions like lawyers and paralegals whose whole jobs are basically to understand what laws apply under what circumstances. Understanding the nuances involved is rarely as cut-and-dry as looking up the law and seeing it spelled out in plain English that “X is/isn’t legal” and when you see a law explained like that, there’s a good chance that it’s leaving out a lot of nuance about certain circumstances where the opposite might be true.

        3. If you are the person answering the phone, why do you care?

        Because being gainfully employed is how most people afford basic necessities like food and shelter, and if your boss finds out you’re doing that you’re not going to be keeping that job for very long.

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      • vrek@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I’m other news, if anyone needs a personal/professional recommendation for a job tell me your name and industry and I got you fam.

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