Doctor-Patient Confidentiality?

[C.Ann]

That's how I see it. It made sense to ask for the drivers license. It has all the pertinent information on there and a photo id. Match it up and call it a day.

Especially if it was a "bad hair day"!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Especially if it was a "bad hair day"!

Tell me about it!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Tell me about it!

My prior license-I took when I was 7 or 8 months pregnant.

That was a SCARY picture.

I was so grateful to have that replaced.

 

[teacherforhi]

I went to a new orthopedist earlier this week. Not only did they request my photo ID along with my insurance card, they took a picture of my palm print. The receptionist explained that it was to prevent fraud. My print will be requested each time I come and it is now linked to my file.

 

[CajunDixie]

So do I have to take pics of our ambulance patients before we transport them? I'm sorry but the photo thing is BS!
Tell them its against your religion to have your photo taken. No adult Amish person would let their pic be taken.

 

[DisMomme]

I think I like the idea of a photo being linked to my medical file. There is another famly in town with the same last name. The wifes first initial and year of birth are the same as mine. They also have a son with the EXACT same name as my son. Despite the fact that they have different birth dates, we have had mix ups. If a photo were linked to their files there would be no chance the two would be confused.

I also prefer an up to date photo on my file. My license photo was taken 4 years ago. My hair style and glasses have changed. I think they should update the medical file with a new pic every year when you go in for your annual physical.

 

[MizTink]

Especially if it was a "bad hair day"!

i had to have my picture taken for a new doctor before. the only reason i didn't like it was because i was too fat!!

 

[locolala]

Wow, some of you folks would HATE the military health care system then. Everything is linked through our social security numbers, mine and my husband. In order to even schedule a doctors appointment I must give my social to the people on the phone, or on the secure website. My ID has both socials on it, and my prescription bottles have the last 4 of my husbands social on it. If you told the military folks you didn't want them knowing your social, you wouldn't get health insurance. Simple as that.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Very interesting. I've seen several different doctors and the dentist over the last few months and did not have to show a picture ID or have my photo taken. They did ask a few times for my insurance card, which I do not carry and since I had seen them all before I knew they already had all of that info. It was not a problem. I don't see why it's necessary at all to show the same information again and again, if a new card hasn't come in the mail, it's the same as last time.

I would have declined to have my picture taken, there's no need for that.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

I haven't read more than a few posts on this thread so forgive me if I am repeating things. I work for a doctor's office. As of Aug. 1 of this year it is federally mandated that we get a picture ID of the patient. My clinic has not gone to an electronic medical records system just yet so we don't take the actual pictures at this point (though we will as soon as we go electronic). We usually get a D.L., state ID, or some other federal/state type of photo identification. It is to prove that the patient is who they say they are. Yes, we know most of our patients.

However, if a new employee were to start working there they would likely not know you. Someone could come in and claim to be you and how would she really know without asking for identification? The reason this is federally mandated IS because this has happened. People steal Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance cards or sometimes they have even been known to have a family member let them borrow them. Dishonest people are great at coming up with all kinds of identity theft scams and this is now one of them. At our clinic, we scan in your D.L. once and then each time you come to the clinic we have a way to pull it up quickly on the computer to make sure you are who you say you are and that we are treating the right patient. It is to protect YOU from those dishonest people that could pretend to be you...it is to protect against insurance fraud.

There are patients at our clinic that don't have a photo ID (our oldest patient that I am aware of is 105 so you can see why that might be a problem). In this case, the doctor usually can ID the person since they likely come in quite often due to ailments associated with the aging process. We just put a note on their account stating they don't have ID but that we know the patient, or the doctor does, or something to that extent. There are people that refuse to let us scan their ID as well. We simply let them know the situation and make them aware that they may be asked to show us their ID more than once or even every time (as we don't all know EVERY patient that comes in even if we have been there a while since we have many doctors and a large patient base). We put a note on their account stating that they didn't want their ID scanned but that they did allow us to see it.

As soon as we go electronic we will start taking patients photos with the little camera, especially new patients. This will be more effective overall because of what I just stated above, not everyone has an ID. I am an RHIT so patient confidentiality is a large part of my job, among others. Trust me when I say that we are trying to protect your privacy/identity, not invade it, even if that is what it feels like at times. Hope this helps!

 

[Disney Doll]

It's very informative, but there are always going to be those people who have a "Big Brother" attitude about this stuff....

Truly, most medical people are used to onboxious patients. It is, in many ways, a monster we have created ourselves because we have given people the impression that medical care should be like the hospitality industry....our hospitals look like hotels, so people expect that level of service. It would stand to reason that the entitlment attitude would filter down to the offices.

 

[Genesia]

I work in the health care field. I am a nurse-anesthetist. I have been blessed with nearly 26 years of good health because I haven't had anything more serious than a tooth cavity in my life. Yet I know what a scam insurance is from my patients' experiences. I am on the patients' side, and I am speaking as someone now in a position to bill insurance companies directly myself since I got my license to administer anesthesia earlier this year.

 

[GJM]

Wow, some of you folks would HATE the military health care system then. Everything is linked through our social security numbers, mine and my husband

How true is that! My DS just got his military ID - it didn't have his SS# on it but it did have my DH.

It is funny how fast I learned DH SS# - because you need it for everything in the military!

 

[robinb]

Wow, some of you folks would HATE the military health care system then. Everything is linked through our social security numbers, mine and my husband. In order to even schedule a doctors appointment I must give my social to the people on the phone, or on the secure website. My ID has both socials on it, and my prescription bottles have the last 4 of my husbands social on it. If you told the military folks you didn't want them knowing your social, you wouldn't get health insurance. Simple as that.

The military is a whole 'nother thing entirely. I was a Navy brat and I remember how I needed to give my SSN for everything. Luckily, for us non-Military folks it's against the law for companies to use your SSN for ID purposes.

 

[PaulaSue]

They have been doing that for a while around here. (To cut down on insurance fraud.)

 

[ukwildcat]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but we take pictures of patients in my office, or at least verify their identity by copying their drivers license or looking at it. The reason behind this is two-fold: first, I can verify the person presenting the insurance card is the correct individual (I have had 2 people try to use another persons health insurance during the past 3 years), and second, it helps me remember the person while reading through their file before their visit.

FWIW, if someone has a problem with it, we just verify their identity by looking at their photo i.d. Also, we don't even bother with photo i.d.'s for cash paying patients.

 

[SanFranciscan]

The military is a whole 'nother thing entirely. I was a Navy brat and I remember how I needed to give my SSN for everything. Luckily, for us non-Military folks it's against the law for companies to use your SSN for ID purposes.

Everybody and his grandmother seems entitled to your Social Security number whether you have never been in the military because corporations are acting in a government capacity without government accountability. We are told to protect this number and our personal information, but we can't protect our "personal information" when it doesn't even belong to us. I wasn't surprised to hear that patients were upset to learn that they medical records had fallen upon the wrong eyes online. I was just surprised that they were surprised it happened.

I much approve of the old military policy of advising soldiers to reveal nothing but their name, rank, and serial number if they are captured. Revealing their Social Security numbers to the nation's enemies is a terrible idea because it makes their lives open books to said enemies.

Of course, things like the Geneva Convention for the well-being of soldiers mean as little as the Hippocritic Oath does for the well-being of patients. That is not a typing error. I mean it the way I wrote it because health care is not even about treating the patient but what doctors and hospitals can bill insurance companies for.

I am following up on what happened in my doctor's office with a letter I wrote to my doctor yesterday because he already knew that I was angry there. I am telling him the truth that I wouldn't even be going to the doctor if I didn't feel obligated. If I had a condition from which I could die, odds are good that I would just make my good-byes rather than put up with people whose attitude is "Just pay us. We don't care about your problem." Even with insurance and an income, that attitude is what I have come to expect from doctors and their staff. I can imagine what utter Hell life must be for the uninsured because the insurance interrogation while on the telephone making appointments makes me feel like I am being cross-examined. My condition would not kill me but leave me disabled. I have a duty to taxpayers not to let that happen.

Besides that I fear job discrimination if employers knew that I was a candidate for future disability, and I am sure those defending the insurance companies here would defend this discrimination as well. A patient who happened to be HIV+ or getting treatment for a psychiatric condition or some other socially stigmatized condition will become unemployable if medical records are treated as something to be kept for the benefit of insurance companies and devil take patient privacy. Companies not even offering medical insurance will insist that this information is their business.

The insurance lobbyists here can call me a paranoid old fool if it makes it makes them feel better, but the problem will not go away by pretending that it is not there.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Everybody and his grandmother seems entitled to your Social Security number.

*****

Besides that I fear job discrimination if employers knew that I was a candidate for future disability, and I am sure those defending the insurance companies here would defend this discrimination as well.

******
A patient who happened to be HIV+ or getting treatment for a psychiatric condition or some other socially stigmatized condition will become unemployable if medical records are treated as something to be kept for the benefit of insurance companies and devil take patient privacy. Companies not even offering medical insurance will insist that this information is their business.
***********
The insurance lobbyists here can call me a paranoid old fool if it makes it makes them feel better, but the problem will not go away by pretending that it is not there.

You have completely separate issues---

Noone in the medical field is entitled to your SSN. I can omit mine if I wanted to. I never provide my children's SSN and they get treated just fine.

My insurance only requires the info on the card (none of which is the ssn)--who the benefits are under (for me it is my DH) and the DOB for verification purposes so they get the right person pulled up when checking for benefits.

********

Your presumption that folks here who don't have an issue with an insurance company wanting a photo means that we would be okay with you being discriminated in the work place is likely incorrect, unfounded and absurd.

Discrimination based on medical condition is a separate issue entirely and until said medical condition impacts your ability to do work--you deserve to stay employed. When it affects your ability to do work, you should be considered like any other employee to see if the job can be modified or if you should be terminated if the job cannot be modified.

For example--if your job requires heavy lifting and your disability one day makes that impossible, it would be difficult to modify your job and I don't feel it is discrimination if they have to decide to no longer employ you as a result.

You don't have to disclose the disability as they cannot make you. But if you can't do the job and reasonable accomodations don't help you--then you are not entitled to the position.

*******

You seem to have multiple issues--and I don't thnk it is fair that you believe entitled to give the world your anger, when most of your issued could be resolved in a calm manner.

 

[SanFranciscan]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but we take pictures of patients in my office, or at least verify their identity by copying their drivers license or looking at it. The reason behind this is two-fold: first, I can verify the person presenting the insurance card is the correct individual (I have had 2 people try to use another persons health insurance during the past 3 years), and second, it helps me remember the person while reading through their file before their visit.

FWIW, if someone has a problem with it, we just verify their identity by looking at their photo i.d. Also, we don't even bother with photo i.d.'s for cash paying patients.

Even paying cash doesn't stop the hassles. First of all, I have asked how much money I should bring to those expecting payment up front. They don't know.

I went to see a doctor which was not covered by the insurance that I had at that time. I explained that I was a self-pay when asked about insurance on the telephone. I was asked again about insurance when I showed up for the appointment. I again said that I was a self-pay while I stood there with cash in hand. On my way out, the receptionist again asked wasn't there some insurance that I would like for her to bill. She was paid that day, but I had lied to her on the telephone that I had no insurance to prevent this. Since she had my SSN, she probably knew that I did have insurance that they didn't accept in that office and intended to bill them anyway.

I now have a PPO, which is supposed to be better than the HMO that I had before. I don't see that it has increased the quality of care that I get, but it sure does increase the price of simply walking into a doctor's office.

I was also accused at one point of ignoring a statement a medical receptionist insisted that the office had sent to me. Very accusing tone, even though I had left that office paid in full at my previous appointment. I hadn't gotten that statement but paid her. The statement arrived in the mail the following week. It was for the same amount, and it was postmarked AFTER THE DATE OF OUR CONVERSATION.

 

[laurie31]

You have completely separate issues---

Noone in the medical field is entitled to your SSN. I can omit mine if I wanted to. I never provide my children's SSN and they get treated just fine.

*******

You seem to have multiple issues--and I don't thnk it is fair that you believe entitled to give the world your anger, when most of your issued could be resolved in a calm manner.

This whole post was well-said. You should not be able to be discriminated against in the workplace because of your health problems, or potential helath problems.

Having your SSN does NOT give a medical provider access to your insurance information. That's why they need the card. SSN is not on there anymore (for civilian insurance, I mean).

I'm still not sure what your problems with billing have to do with not wanting to be sure that your medical records are in fact yours.

As for the bill with the date, those things go out from a separate department. I got a bill from my last check-up, but my insurance covers those 100%. I called the insurance and they said it was coded as a sick visit. I assured them I was not ill and was not diagnosed with anything at the visit. So I called the MD office and asked them to recode the visit and resubmit the insurance. I have since gotten another bill, even though the insurance told me not to pay until they straightened out the coding thing. They will just keep sending the bills. I have also gotten bills after I have paid. Same thing with utilities, charge cards, etc. The payments recieved don't get posted before the outgoing bills are mailed, even though I paid before the due date.

So it's not JUST a medical/insurance thing. It's everywhere. I got bills for a washing machine I bought "90 days same as cash" and I paid in full before the 90 days, but it was set up in the computer to be paid with interest over two years. (they were hoping that people would NOT pay it off before the grace period). For *two years* I got bills for $0.00 from this company. What a waste!