HIPAA and online reviews and a brief (re)-introduction

[BP3]

Morning Optiboard,

I am in the process of researching HIPAA policies and NYS differences from MI and was wondering if anybody has any insight to this question: In regards to HIPAA and patient confidentiality, what are the rules when patients choose to post reviews about our practice? Obviously our practice never reveals patient information especially on social media, but what if the patient chooses to make a public post and reveal their information?

I have looked on the HHS.GOV website but have not found the answer I was looking for.

Thanks in advance!

Best,
Bill


My Reintroduction:

My name is Bill and I joined optiboard roughly 2 years ago. I was working as an optician in training at a Eye care chain in Michigan while going to school. Now that I graduated from college, I moved back out to NY to find a job.

I have been hired as a marketing manager for an Optometrists office in NYC where I will be managing their social media accounts and other marketing promotions. Michigan is not a licensed state but NY is, so I am continuing my training here so I can become a NYS licensed optician.

I am glad to be able to continue in this industry and use my education to contribute to the growth of my new office.

Thanks again!

[wmcdonald]

This is not a HIPAA issue, so it would not be on their site. Patients can reveal anything they want about their condition. HIPAA governs patient protection and privacy, meaning that providers cannot reveal data related to patient health.

[MikeAurelius]

^^ +1 this.

You probably already know that there's nothing you can do about an on-line review except perhaps to answer "I'm sorry you feel this way, let's talk over the phone and see if we can address your concerns." Anything else and you will have a spectacular crash and burn.

[becc971]

^ what mike said. you want to appear as non-confrontational/helpful as possible in these instances. SOMETIMES the "patient" will go off on you after your offer to help, negating their bad review because people can see tha tthey are legit nuts, or they will post again RE: the original review if you've fixed everything to their satisfaction and say what a fabulous job you did.

[BP3]

Thanks for the input so far

Perhaps I worded the question wrong so let me ask with a hypothetical. My inquiry was not about saving face via online but rather rules and regulations regarding confidentiality.

Hypothetical: Pt sees us and has a great (or not so great) encounter at our office and decides to write a public review revealing their name, condition, etc etc which is normally protected by confidentiality. By us responding to this review, we are not violating regulations because the patient chose to make all private information public correct?

Luckily this office has a very devoted patient base and the negative reviews are few and far between.

Hopefully I cleared any confusion up. Thanks again

[MikeAurelius]

As long as you don't respond detailing the condition the patient had, you are not violating HIPAA. You should never put medical information on anything to do with social media even if the patient has already written out, not even to correct mis-information. Maybe make a comment that medical information is considered private and protected under HIPAA and you cannot discuss such issues outside of the office and certainly not on social media.

[MikeAurelius]

Remember that patients are not bound by HIPAA, only the medical profession is.

[BP3]

That's what I was thinking Mike. We wouldn't divulge any additional information, just a simple "Thanks! Glad we were able to help" or a "Sorry to hear about your experience, please contact us directly" would be the gist of our replies.

Hope you aren't getting snow yet in Minnesota. I hear it's already 40 degrees where I used to live in Michigan!

[MikeAurelius]

Probably tonight waaay up in da Nort.

Alberta has had snow already near Edmonton.

Going down to 35 tonight here in Central Mn

[scriptfiller]

I probably would would send correspondence to the pat. if it was a negative review in an attempt to better your practice. (If the complaint was indeed valid, of course).

If the review was positive a simple Thank You response would suffice.