Jan
13
Compliance with cell phones
By
Cell phone cameras have introduced the technical capability for a clinician to photograph a patient’s wound and then transmit that digital photo to another clinician or the electronic medical record.
Please discuss and recommend procedures for this assessment process that maintain patient privacy and compliance with HIPAA privacy and security regulations.
I appreciate your thoughtful advice.
Deb Kocsis
Director of Corporate Compliance, Quality Assessment, and Staff Development
Hospice of Central Ohio
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Inform the patient and get a signed consent before taking the pictures. Remove all identifiable features form the picture so that the patient can not easily be recognized.
Inform the patient and get a signed consent before taking the pictures. Remove all identifiable features from the picture so that the patient can not easily be recognized
thanks, Dr. Asemota, for taking the time to respond.
I agree with Dr Asemota that all distinguishing features need to be obscured so the patient is not identifiable. While obtaining a signed informed consent is always good idea, I do not believe it is necessary since the photo(s)will be inthe patient’s chart or will be usd for consult purposes with a colleague.
Catherine – the consent for care thus covers the photograh as part of the assessment, if I follow your thinking. Any concerns about data in motion? the digital photo file will not start out inside an encrypted electronic medical record. thoughts?
I agree that the consent is a good idea. If we extrapolate the same situation to an x-ray. What if a chiropractor takes an xray and sends a digital photo to a colleague? Probably there are no “distinguishing features” on the x-ray to reveal patient identity but every xray has patient demographic information on it. This should be treated with the same consent as if you are sending out a film. No different with a pic, would be my opinion.