Thu Dec 30, 2021, 09:25 AM
Atticus (15,124 posts)
Does anyone know if the HIPAA privacy rules ACTUALLY mean no one can be
required to state or verify their vaccination status?
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12 replies, 1143 views
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Author | Time | Post |
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Atticus | Dec 2021 | OP |
piddyprints | Dec 2021 | #1 | |
Atticus | Dec 2021 | #2 | |
brooklynite | Dec 2021 | #9 | |
TexasTowelie | Dec 2021 | #3 | |
Walleye | Dec 2021 | #4 | |
Voltaire2 | Dec 2021 | #5 | |
haele | Dec 2021 | #6 | |
Hortensis | Dec 2021 | #11 | |
Bettie | Dec 2021 | #7 | |
MineralMan | Dec 2021 | #8 | |
LetMyPeopleVote | Dec 2021 | #10 | |
RobinA | Dec 2021 | #12 |
Response to piddyprints (Reply #1)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 09:35 AM
Atticus (15,124 posts)
2. Thank you very much. I have heard or read about many "anti-vax protestors"
who smugly insisted HIPAA meant no one could ask for proof of vax. I assumed this was just more BS, but did not have an authoritative source,
Now, I do. |
Response to Atticus (Reply #2)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 12:19 PM
brooklynite (87,115 posts)
9. Anyone can be asked their vaccine status.
Nobody can be required to provide it.
Anyone who doesn’t provide it can be denied access to a building that’s not their’s. Simple. |
Response to piddyprints (Reply #1)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 09:36 AM
TexasTowelie (101,916 posts)
3. Thanks for the information. nt
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 09:44 AM
Walleye (24,752 posts)
4. If the state can find out your pregnancy status, vaccination is no big deal
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 10:48 AM
Voltaire2 (10,810 posts)
5. No it does not.
It only controls information your health care providers have.
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Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 11:52 AM
haele (11,988 posts)
6. That's not what HIPAA is about.
People can ask you about your status or proof of that status for legitimate reasons - especially public or workplace health and safety. You can choose not to tell them - or lie about it. And take whatever consequences that refusal brings with it.
HIPAA doesn't allow the medical facility with your records to release them to just anybody who asks without your permission or a court order. Which can be a pain in the butt when you're changing specialty doctors who aren't in the same clinic or network. Haele |
Response to haele (Reply #6)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 12:56 PM
Hortensis (56,922 posts)
11. Right. And related institutions like insurance companies that
have to have access to what need to be private medical records.
I remember when patient charts hung on hospital walls outside rooms where anyone strolling by could peek at, or clandestinely grab and sit down to read. |
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 11:55 AM
Bettie (14,957 posts)
7. Nope
It means your doctor can't disclose information without your permission.
It doesn't mean you can't be asked. Antivaxxers are wrong about a whole lot of things. My fear is that this will lead, ultimately, to them refusing other vaccines as well, leading to a return of a bunch of diseases. |
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 12:01 PM
MineralMan (145,322 posts)
8. Well, one can choose not to reveal that information.
However, there might be consequences for deciding not to tell. For example, if there is a job requirement to be vaccinated, you could lose your job if you refuse to demonstrate that you are vaccinated. You can refuse, but that might cost you your job.
HIPAA really has to do with other people disclosing your heath information. You are free to disclose it at any time, or to authorize the disclosure by others. |
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 12:50 PM
LetMyPeopleVote (130,695 posts)
10. Fact check: Businesses can legally ask if patrons have been vaccinated. HIPAA does not apply.
Link to tweet Vaccine opponents, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., are using the occasion to resurrect the false claim that the HIPAA federal privacy law protects individuals from being asked about their vaccination status.
On May 18, several GOP members refused to wear masks on the House floor in defiance of House rules on mask-wearing, including Greene. When asked whether she was vaccinated, Greene told reporters that asking about her vaccine status was a HIPAA violation. .... The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is a law that prevents health care professionals from sharing private health information without the patient's permission. But experts agree the interpretation of HIPAA cited by Greene and others online is inaccurate. The law has no bearing on who can ask or answer questions about health status outside a health care setting, they say..... Alan Meisel, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Pittsburgh, told USA TODAY at the time that HIPAA’s rules apply only to sharing information between "covered entities." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes covered entities as “health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically.” |
Response to Atticus (Original post)
Thu Dec 30, 2021, 12:58 PM
RobinA (9,518 posts)
12. No!
Half the nonsense that gets attributed to HIPAA is bull.
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