Does HIPAA really protect your privacy?

TAMPA, FL -- From social security numbers to details about personal medical procedures, the risk of your private information going public could be on the rise. While the federal law HIPAA is meant to protect your privacy, we’ve uncovered why the law may be falling short and what you can do if you feel your privacy has been violated.

"This angers me."  Francine Rowley couldn't believe what she was looking at.  "I need to be able to trust these people," said Rowley after learning that a document full of private medical information from a home care facility that sent staff to treat her ended up in our hands at ABC Action News.

"I need to have my information protected," said Rowley.

A former employee of that home health care company, who asked to have her identity withheld, sent a stack of one sheet referral forms to ABC Action News to prove a point.  Your medical information is not as well guarded as you think.

“The HIPAA law guarantees you that this information is being collected only for the purposes of collecting insurance payments, said Rowley, and to relay that info to other doctors that may need to have that information.  That's my limited understanding of it."

Dr. Jay Wolfson, of USF health, said HIPAA actually goes far beyond that intent.

“Every health care provider is required by law to demonstrate that they have a system in place to protect your privacy as a patient,” said Wolfson.

That includes: 
1-putting administrative policies in place to train employees on how to handle private records
2-have technical safeguards like passwords for computers, locks for files and shredders
3 and have physical safeguards - meaning location and access of private information must be physically controlled.

The person who sent us the documents said they quit working at the home care facility and was able to take the records with them.

Jay Wolfson said there is a HIPAA violation.

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