HIPAA Protection in a Clinical Setting

Introduction The interaction between patients and medical staff in an outpatient clinic waiting room often presents the opportunity for the overexposure of private health information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects sensitive patient information in a medical setting, but it does not outline how patients should be called from the waiting room. Methods In this research study, patients were called from the waiting room by a randomly assigned number rather than their name in an effort to increase protection of patient information. Following their appointment, patient privacy preferences were evaluated with a short questionnaire. Two hundred and thirty-six patients were enrolled in outpatient orthopedic clinic sites throughout southeast Michigan. Results While 48.3% of patients preferred to be called by name and 16.9% preferred to be called by a number, 34.7% of patients did not have a preferred calling method. Along with calling method preference, patients were asked to rate their comfort with being called by a number and the importance of privacy in the clinic setting. Overall, participants who had no calling method preference did not express discomfort when being called by a number. Conclusion Patients within the orthopedic clinic who valued patient confidentiality felt comfortable with the number calling method, however, the majority of patients preferred to be called by their name.