Reflections on HIPAA from Ash Wednesday

EVENT

The title is deceptive. This is neither a theological nor a "career update" post.
Rather, it's just an attempt to recognize coincidental symmetricality.

Today, the Flint Journal published an editorial responding to recent actions by the Uncommon Sense.

Before I even read the editorial, I was struck by how extraordinary this event must be. With a daily circulation of over 100,000, and having bought out the Advance Newspapers which provided the only other weeklies in-county, the Flint Journal has a virtual monopoly on print media. The paper itself vascilates in quality from day to day. On the one hand, several writers produce regularly good columns, and the editorial board is generally well-informed and provocative. On the other hand, actual coverage tends to prefer the cute and poignant over the newsworthy, and stories are generously sprinkled with bad puns and incorrect attributions.

This provokes no lack of resentment among Flint's independent press. The city is nothing if not political, and has always featured an array of often mediocre left-leaning independent publications. They refer to the Flint Journal as the "urinal," which squarely ignores them, but you never expect to see one directly mentioned in print by the other.

Hence my suprise at the Journal's editorial.

The Uncommon Sense has emerged the last two years as one of the most successful and compelling independent publications in Flint.

So, whence this indirect endorsement?

* * * * *

Warning. This is going to become an exercise in how a problem becomes very complicated very quickly.

Evidently, in its present issue, the Uncommon Sense describes its recovery of abandoned medical records from Flint's last Delphi plant scheduled for demolition.

Delphi was a spin-off of General Motors electrical systems, and has gradually downsized or outsourced their Flint work for years. In recent months, Delphi announced the closure of their last facility in the city (also a historic site, a key battleground in the 1937-38 Sit-Down Strike) and their relocation of their world headquarters to another location.

This is the context, then, in which the Uncommon Sense came into possession of sensitive medical documents they allege were left at the demolition site, incuding X-rays, names, and social security numbers, among other information.

The Uncommon Sense has not explained how, specifically, they retrieved these records. I suspect (I have my sources) that someone was exploring the old factory and simply picked them up off the floor.

At this point, the chronology is a little unclear, but here's what I undertstand from contrasting the two newspapers and following the links they provide. The Uncommon Sense notified Delphi that they were in possession of the records, then set about writing a piece on corporate irresponsibility. As they finished this article, Delphi representatives arrived to retrieve the documents, but were refused. These details made it into the Uncommon Sense.
On the 2nd, Delphi issued this letter demanding the documents' return.
On the 3rd, the Uncommon Sense's Chief Editor submitted this Health Insurance Privacy Complaint and posted this bulletin.
Finally, today the Flint Journal published its own editorial, urging the Uncommon Sense prudence in returning the documents to Delphi immediately.

I should also note that, while the most sensitive information has been held back, the first and last names of employees have been posted on the Uncommon Sense's website, and the jounral implies that these individuals have been contacted.

I was right about one of my first assumptions... it took an important and tangled affair for the Journal to acknowledge the Uncommon Sense.

* * * * *

To tell the truth, I don't know much what to make of this. Working in the hospital for so long has given me a comprehensive understaning of at least some parts of HIPAA... I know, for example, that all patient medical records are to be out of a public viewing area and also that we are never to call a patient by their last name in earshot of other patients. I do know, admittedly, know how these rules apply to corporations or to individuals or organizations as pertaining to "found items." It's also not lost on me that the Uncommon Sense has obtained legal counsel.

I can say, without hesitation, that it is certainy unethical that the Uncommon Sense would release the names of individuals in a public forum, and whatever dubious goal such display might have, it is making the Delphi employees even more vulnerable than they were in the first place.

I would also venture to say that, whatever the Uncommon Sense's stance may be, the record were released to Delphi and only Delphi with consent. However egregious neglegence may have been, the Uncommon Sense is bound to return the documents immediately.

In the end, I am inclined to agree with the editorial in the vanilla-flavored Flint Journal. The Uncommon Sense performed a valuable service (and one local mainstream media shies away from) by uncovering an abuse of privacy on the part of Delphi. Still, by retaining documents to which they have no right and abusing the information contained therein, the Uncommon Sense compromises both its argument and its integrity, however noble its intentions may be.

I'm only acquainted with the surface aspects of HIPAA. I would be very interested in what Tom or some of my fellow hospital-workers might say about this matter.

~ Connor