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COVID and confidentiality?

denmar81

HR Heisman
Mar 26, 2006
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My wife informed her boss that our son tested positive for COVID. He doesn’t live with us but as a precaution she thought her boss should know. We got tested even though it was 3 weeks since we had contact. We tested negative. Her boss in turn sent an e- mail to other department heads naming my son as having a positive test. I thought in case like this confidentially was the law. Is this shit legal?
 
My wife informed her boss that our son tested positive for COVID. He doesn’t live with us but as a precaution she thought her boss should know. We got tested even though it was 3 weeks since we had contact. We tested negative. Her boss in turn sent an e- mail to other department heads naming my son as having a positive test. I thought in case like this confidentially was the law. Is this shit legal?

What sort of industry is your wife working in?
 
SOL. Don’t tell your employer anymore than they need to know.

Yeah, I have no idea how HIPAA works with government entities.

I know that we're allowed to tell the county Department of Health everything, regardless of employee consent. In fact, we're required to do so.

Those assholes wanted us to interview employees and do contact tracing. Oh, no.... we have rules we have to follow. We'll let you in the building and YOUR people can do that. Not us.
 
Yeah, I have no idea how HIPAA works with government entities.

I know that we're allowed to tell the county Department of Health everything, regardless of employee consent. In fact, we're required to do so.

Those assholes wanted us to interview employees and do contact tracing. Oh, no.... we have rules we have to follow. We'll let you in the building and YOUR people can do that. Not us.
I don’t think HIPAA is even relevant here. You’re the HR guy, I’ll let you handle it (lol).
I do some HR work because I handle payroll, educated myself on a lot of it.
 
My employer found out that an employee tested positive after initially testing negative and coming back to work, then going out with a group of other employees after work and exposing them.
I wasn't directly exposed to that person, but I do work closely with the people who went out with that person.
I was pretty incensed that I didn't get notified, but they went off a list of co-workers that person gave them, but that means nothing because those co-workers are in every department.

It's pretty tricky because frankly HIPPA has no language that equips it to handle a pandemic.
 
Employers have an obligation under OSHA to inform co-workers who have come in contact with an infected person so that they can begin self-monitoring and possibly self-quarantine, all to minimize the risk of spread in the workplace. But when employers use information obtained from infected employees to try to protect others in the workforce, for example, by engaging in contact tracing and notification of other employees who may have been exposed, they may not reveal the identity of the individual with a positive test and should take all reasonable steps to avoid accidentally revealing that person’s identity through non-identifying facts disclosed during that contact tracing.

https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com...-19-labor-and-employment-issues-for-employers

· Persons at risk of contracting or spreading a disease. A covered entity may disclose protected health information to a person who is at risk of contracting or spreading a disease or condition if other law authorizes the covered entity to notify such individuals as necessary to carry out public health interventions or investigations. For example, a covered health care provider may disclose protected health information as needed to notify a person that (s)he has been exposed to a communicable disease if the covered entity is legally authorized to do so to prevent or control the spread of the disease. See 45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(iv).

· Workplace medical surveillance. A covered health care provider who provides a health care service to an individual at the request of the individual’s employer, or provides the service in the capacity of a member of the employer’s workforce, may disclose the individual’s protected health information to the employer for the purposes of workplace medical surveillance or the evaluation of work-related illness and injuries to the extent the employer needs that information to comply with OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), or the requirements of State laws having a similar purpose. The information disclosed must be limited to the provider’s findings regarding such medical surveillance or work-related illness or injury. The covered health care provider must provide the individual with written notice that the information will be disclosed to his or her employer (or the notice may be posted at the worksite if that is where the service is provided). See 45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(v).

General Considerations: Except when required by law, or for treatment disclosures, a covered entity must make reasonable effortsto limit the information used or disclosed under any provision listed above to that which is the “minimum necessary” to accomplish the purpose for the disclosure. 45 CFR 164.502(b).

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020...on-about-individuals-exposed-to-covid-19.html

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19-hipaa-and-first-responders-508.pdf

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/public-health/index.html


What a bunch of bureaucratic horsehockey! Who the hell can comply with this garbage?

This is why we can't win the COVID war. Freaking bullspit!
 
As I understand it, a healthcare provider can contact a patient’s employer to let them know that their employee has tested positive. The healthcare provider may not discuss other health issues. In other words, they are allowed to give out information to protect community health.

In the OP’s case, his wife’s boss is not a healthcare provider and is not covered by HIPPA. It is similar to telling a gossiping friend. It could have been avoided by his wife saying to her boss, “boss, I found out that I was exposed to someone that tested positive for COVID last week.”. No need to disclose a name or relationship.
 
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