HIPAA-protecting patient confidentiality or covering something else?

• Main Author: Robbins RA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arizona Thoracic Society 2013-10-01
• Series: Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care
• Subjects: HIPAA; Health Care Portability and Accountability Act; Veterans Administration; VA; Anil Parikh; Jesse Brown VA; James Jones; Jeffrey Ryan; Inspector General; Merit Systems Protection Board
• Online Access: http://www.swjpcc.com/editorial/2013/10/4/hipaa-protecting-patient-confidentiality-or-covering-somethi.html

No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. A case of a physician fired from the Veterans Administration (VA) for violation of the Health Care Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) illustrates a problem with both the law and the VA. Anil Parikh, a VA physician at the Jesse Brown VA in Chicago, was dismissed on a charge of making unauthorized disclosures of confidential patient information on October 19, 2007. On January 3, 2011 the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) reversed Dr. Parikh’s removal. Dr. Parikh's initially made disclosures to the VA Office of Inspector General and to Senator Barack Obama and Congressman Luis Gutierrez, in whose district the Jesse Brown VA lies. Dr. Parikh alleged that there were systematic problems within the Jesse Brown VA that resulted in untimely and inadequate patient care. The confidential patient information Parikh disclosed included examples of the misdiagnoses and misdirection of patients within the hospital. Specifically, Dr. Parikh alleged that …