• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

Q&A: Phone messages and HIPAA

Article

A patient recently claimed that we violated her privacy because we left a message on her answering machine about an upcoming appointment and her husband heard it. Did we violate HIPAA regulations?

Q: A patient recently claimed that we violated her privacy because we left a message on her answering machine about an upcoming appointment and her husband heard it. Did we violate HIPAA regulations?

A: No. HIPAA doesn't prohibit leaving messages for patients on answering machines as long as you release only limited information and take reasonable precautions to protect privacy. But if a patient asks you to communicate with her confidentially (by calling her at the office rather than at home, for example), you must accommodate that request if it's reasonable. When you ask patients for their contact information, you might want to have them sign a separate statement acknowledging that they know this is your policy. At that time, you should also allow them to request something different.

Related Videos