Be Careful With That Personal Info

Be careful with the information you give your cancer center or hospital. It may be used in ways you did not expect, ways that may seem like a violation of your privacy.

Not too long ago, my oncologist sent me to have some tests and scans at Northwest Hospital, which is where his clinic is based. When I checked in for my scans, I was given the usual paperwork, which included a line for giving an emergency contact.

As I usually do, I put down my friend Laurie, with her phone number. 

Later, there was a mix-up in my bills, and guess what? A woman in the billing office called Laurie. 

How did the bill collections person get this information, which I thought was only in the medical part of my file?

And how could this NOT be a violation of HIPAA, which is supposed to protect patients' privacy?

And why did she call my friend? 

Well, the answer to the last question is easy: She called my friend to embarrass me and to force me to pay up. There was no other reason to call Laurie. The woman in the billing office had my phone number, and I had been in contact with her both by mail and on the phone as I tried to figure out what the problem was with my bill. 

Answer to questions one and two: Hospitals are allowed to use your personal information, and even pass it on to outside collections agencies, as part of their “health care operations” which includes bill collecting. (Never mind that you are trying to sort out your bills, or that you may not owe anything at all. See below.) 

That’s according to Joana Ramos, a patient advocate and lymphoma survivor.  

Since that time, when I’m given a form that has that “emergency contact” line. I just leave it blank. They don’t like it, but I don’t care. 

I also don’t give my cell phone number to any of my medical folks, even my oncologist and his nurse, because it will go in my chart and be available to the bill collectors. Again, even to outside collections agencies. These are the folks who auto-dial you 12 times a day. Do they care that you are doing chemo and feel like crap much of the time? No, they do not. Trust me on this one.  

Northwest Hospital isn’t the only local hospital that does this. Joana had a similar experience with the University of Washington Medical Center. She was listed as the emergency contact for a friend who had come to UWMC for follow-up care after a transplant. 

The UWMC gave Joana’s phone number to an outside collections agency, which then called her as part of its effort to collect money from the transplant patient. 

What adds insult to injury? Under Washington state law, I shouldn’t even be required to pay this bill at Northwest Hospital, because my income last year fell below the federal poverty level. 

I’ve been paying it off at $50 a month, but that stops now. 

See:

Charity Care Expose

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Comments

[Cathy McDonald]

Wow! Good info to remember. I put that kind of information down on paperwork all the time without a thought. Yeah, and I thought that's what HIPAA is for also. As a nurse, it's pounded into our heads not to let slip private info but, hey, I guess when there are dollars involved, it's a different story.
I shall be VERY careful what I put in writing in the future!

[Jeanne Sather]

Cathy--I never thought about it either, until this happened.

Another one to be careful of is your social security number. Just because a health-care provider asks for it doesn't mean you have to provide it.

They'll tell you that they need it to ID which Cathy McDonald you are, but that's not true. They can use your birth date and address.

Again, the SS# can be passed on to collections agencies, who will use it to harass you, sometimes for money you don't even owe (see my posts about Swedish Hospital).

The other reason not to give your SS# away is identity theft--if they have your name, address, date of birth, and SS#--there goes your identity. This happened to a patient at my former cancer center: His identity was stolen by an employee.

Unfortunately, with Medicare, my SS# is my patient ID number, so I have no choice, but I still don't fill it in on the intake forms.

[Yvonne]

I never give out my emergency contact, the receptionists and nurses get a little upset with me. I worked in the hospital and had known what they do with the info. Here in Canada they have this big long waiver that the receptionist and or unit clerk will say is about belongings and treatment, but read the fine print it is about allowing them to release your medical information to your employer and insurance company.