Vanderbilt University Medical Center is facing a federal civil rights investigation after turning the medical records of transgender patients over to Tennessee’s attorney general, hospital officials have confirmed.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is facing a federal civil rights investigation after turning the medical records of transgender patients over to Tennessee’s attorney general, hospital officials have confirmed.
how is this not a HIPAA violation?
It likely fell under a permitted disclosure, as the AG stated they were pursuing a billing fraud investigation. Maybe still a case, if the disclosure was unnecessarily broad though.
Per Health and Human Services:
Health Oversight Activities. Covered entities may disclose protected health information to health oversight agencies (as defined in the Rule) for purposes of legally authorized health oversight activities, such as audits and investigations necessary for oversight of the health care system and government benefit programs.
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html
wow, thanks for the very specific answer.
as always, cruelty is the point.
General bigotry.
It is a HIPAA violation, but the bigots say that trans people aren’t people, so HIPAA doesn’t apply. They fucked around and now just might find out. Sadly, they’ve already done a lot of damage be releasing this information.
so fucked up