Social Media

Are you on Facebook and Twitter? Is your doctor on Facebook or Twitter? Today with all the new social networking sites and new technology, information is being shared in a way that is now violating patients' rights under the Health Insurance Portability and accountability Act or HIPAA. Not only are some doctors accidently releasing to much information but so are nursing staff and employees of clinics and hospitals.

In 1996 the United States Congress and President Bill Clinton signed into effect The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Title I of HIPPA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs, and Title II known as the Administrative Simplification provisions, requires the establishment of national standard for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for provider, health insurance plans, and employers. This act gives the right to privacy for patients 12-18 years old. ("Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act", 2013). Providers must have a signed disclosure from the patient before giving out any information on provided health care to anyone, including parents. Even though this Act is in effect to protect our patients, rights are being violated due to new technology and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook and Twitter are networking sites where people go to stay in touch with family, friends, people we work with and old schoolmates. A lot of business including hospitals and clinics use Facebook as an advertising site that lets you see what's new with the company, bios on the doctors and staff, and new innovations within the companies. This is great for the companies because its free advertising and they can stay connected to their patients. The problem is that employee's and even doctors for these companies are talking about certain patients conditions or treatments on Facebook. Some doctors are talking to their friends or followers about unusual surgeries they have done, or what may have happened during the surgery or a treatment. They may not be releasing the patient's name but if one of the doctor's friends knows the person who had this done, they could tell the patient and it violates HIPAA. Even though the world is so big, so many people can be linked together for other friends and families and at some point know of the patient that had this surgery, treatment or episode that might have been discussed on one of these networking sites.

A Nucleus research study found that approximately 77 percent of workers have a Facebook account and two-thirds are accessing their account during work hours. Employers now have a reason to be concerned about miss use of information within the company. This could not only lead to negative employee productivity but their posts could lead to legal risks. The other risk that employers face, are the data-privacy laws. An employer is liable if an employee