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Explaining HIPAA: No, it doesn’t ban questions about your vaccination status
Washington COMpost ^ | June 4, 2020 | Allyson Chu

Posted on 06/04/2021 5:48:56 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to relax safety measures for people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and the country begins to reopen, many employers, businesses, families and friend groups are finding themselves in the at-times uncomfortable position of having to ask about others’ vaccination statuses.

Some Americans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are balking at such questions and are claiming that asking about or requiring proof of vaccination is a violation of the HIPAA federal privacy law.

“Vax records, along with ALL medical records are private due to HIPPA rights,” Greene recently tweeted, misspelling the law’s acronym.

In the caption of an Instagram post that was flagged for containing false information, another person wrote, “If anyone asks for your vax status, tell them they have no right to know.”

That’s a common misconception but is “simply untrue,” said Robert Gatter, a professor with the Center for Health Law Studies at St. Louis University School of Law. Citing HIPAA as a reason to not disclose vaccination status is often a “knee-jerk reaction” that “quickly gets turned into a statement that sounds like law,” Gatter said. People sometimes say, “‘But I have a right not to be asked that question,’” he continued, “and it’s just not the case.”

Here’s what he and other experts say you need to know about the law.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: covid19; experts; hipaa
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To: beancounter13

A hospital fired a nurse who refused to take the vaccines-—AFTER she had worked almost around the clock for over a year taking care of Covid patients.


21 posted on 06/04/2021 6:08:54 AM PDT by ridesthemiles ( )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

A prelude to the mark and anyone paying attention sees it.

It will be very difficult for people to subsist without the mark.


22 posted on 06/04/2021 6:11:44 AM PDT by jacknhoo ( Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Asking is not the issue. The problem is why they are asking.

Employers compelling people to participate in experimental and unwanted medical procedures is the problem.

The consequences for not participating in the vaccine are the problem.


23 posted on 06/04/2021 6:13:01 AM PDT by CrappieLuck
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Simple answer No. I have health issues.

They are not allowed to ask any thing about the health issues due to HIPAA.


24 posted on 06/04/2021 6:18:08 AM PDT by DEPcom (Floyd died from being a drug addict. Drugs kill)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

And the vaccine isn’t a vaccine it is a gene therapy. And it doesn’t prevent the COVID-19/ 20/ 21 disease. or prevent someone from shedding the virus on everyone in the store.


25 posted on 06/04/2021 6:19:46 AM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

As a health care pro let me say this about this Wapo headline I won’t read

HIPPA is for protection of privacy. Privacy is a right. To breach someone’s privacy the breached must have a need to know


26 posted on 06/04/2021 6:21:30 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I think people are expecting HIPAA to be an employment protection law rather than what it was designed to be; a legal enforcement mechanism aimed at health care providers in dealing with patient/doctor confidentially.

The reality is employers enjoy ENORMOUS asymmetrical power in the employer/employee relationship. They’re free to discriminate for any reason that isn’t expressly related to gender, sexual orientation (thanks Gorsuch), religion, race, national/ethnic origin and in some circumstances, age and disability (I believe that’s all the protected classes).

Beyond those limitations, they are free to use discriminatory practices in just about any other facet apparently including immunization status. It probably isn’t right, but that has nothing to do with HIPAA and everything to do with employment laws that favor employers.


27 posted on 06/04/2021 6:21:58 AM PDT by ScubaDiver (Reddit refugee.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Does an employer have the right to ask a prospective employee if they have HIV/AIDS? How about asking the prospect if they've ever had an abortion? You cannot ask a prospective employee their age but you can ask them if they've had a medical procedure? If memory serves me, the nearest you can get to that info is to ask if they have any issue that would preclude them from carrying out the duties attached to the position. Seems to me that there's some bending going on here.
28 posted on 06/04/2021 6:27:37 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Why the Washington Post Has No Credibility
29 posted on 06/04/2021 6:27:38 AM PDT by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be destroyed.)
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To: CrappieLuck

Asking is not the issue. The problem is why they are asking.

Employers compelling people to participate in experimental and unwanted medical procedures is the problem.>>> Covered by the Geneva Conventions article 36 i believe.


30 posted on 06/04/2021 6:27:52 AM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

We are non-binary-

Therefore, if asked, we can’t share the status of ourselves.

That would be non-consensual sharing of private health data.


31 posted on 06/04/2021 6:31:25 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuitss)
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To: PapaBear3625

Only if you sign a release allowing them to do so. That is HIPAA


32 posted on 06/04/2021 6:33:39 AM PDT by Mom MD ( )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I deal with HIPAA every day, and the main misunderstanding relates to “disclosure” of “protected health information” (PHI).

The most important FACT about HIPAA is that, in the law, in black and white, it says that any health care provider can disclose PHI to any other health care provider orally, electronically, or in writing when it is necessary for the care of the patient.


33 posted on 06/04/2021 6:37:06 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice)
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To: Mom MD

By demanding health information and then making decisions for you based on it, companies are transforming themselves into de facto health care providers. Worse, by handing out badges signifying vaccination status, they are most definitely sharing health information.

And saying the law doesn’t apply is just rank hypocrisy. It is just selectively ignoring the law in situations where it is inconvenient to the plan to allow the woke to make medical decisions for everyone out of their infinite wisdom and the medical expertise all HR organizations possess.


34 posted on 06/04/2021 6:41:11 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Know your rights, HIPAA laws

 

What Rights Does the Privacy Rule Give Me over My Health Information?

Most of us believe that our medical and other health information is private and should be protected, and we want to know who has this information. The Privacy Rule, a Federal law, gives you rights over your health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive your health information. The Privacy Rule applies to all forms of individuals' protected health information, whether electronic, written, or oral. The Security Rule is a Federal law that requires security for health information in electronic form.

They can't ask you if you have been VAXXED

 

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html

35 posted on 06/04/2021 6:42:52 AM PDT by Enlightened1 ( )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
That’s a common misconception but is “simply untrue,” said Robert Gatter, a professor with the Center for Health Law Studies at St. Louis University School of Law. Citing HIPAA as a reason to not disclose vaccination status is often a “knee-jerk reaction” that “quickly gets turned into a statement that sounds like law,” Gatter said. People sometimes say, “‘But I have a right not to be asked that question,’” he continued, “and it’s just not the case.”

He's absolutely correct.

People or organizations can ASK you anything.

They cannot COMPEL you to answer.

36 posted on 06/04/2021 6:44:23 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I feel like it is 1937 Germany, and my last name is Feinberg.)
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Rules and laws are made on the fly by demonrats to suit their agenda...


37 posted on 06/04/2021 6:44:35 AM PDT by TnTnTn
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

The covid jab is not a “vaccine.”

Read the following carefully, from Encyclopedia Brittanica:

Vaccine, suspension of weakened, killed, or fragmented microorganisms or toxins or of antibodies or lymphocytes that is administered primarily to prevent disease.

vaccine | Definition, Types, History, & Facts | Britannica

Genetic engineering, the artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms.

https://www.britannica.com/science/genetic-engineering


38 posted on 06/04/2021 6:44:50 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (I'm changing my name to 'Spike Protien'!)
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To: PapaBear3625
OK, so people can lie. Can employers demand that health care providers confirm the data.

No. But they can demand that the employee confirm it. Simplest way to clear up misconceptions about HIPAA is to realize that an employer can ask you for a doctor's note to prove that an absence was medically excused. Most people know that, but for some reason there is a disconnect between that reality and what they think they know about HIPAA.

39 posted on 06/04/2021 6:45:25 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: hopespringseternal

You can say that all you want but the courts will not agree


40 posted on 06/04/2021 6:47:28 AM PDT by Mom MD ( )
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