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#Post#: 10759--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Jentile4 Date: August 6, 2018, 12:17 pm
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Hello,
I will try to explain this better. We received a letter from a
patient complaining about a situation with the receptionist.
The letter was addressed to a doctor which the patient has seen
previously. The doctor only works part time and does not handle
how things are done by the receptionist. The doctor gave the
letter to her boss to handle. The patient will not be coming
back to the office but the practice owner wants to address the
issues with the patient to let her know how the situation was
handled.
Jen
#Post#: 10762--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Kiwipinball Date: August 6, 2018, 12:27 pm
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[quote author=Jentile4 link=topic=587.msg10759#msg10759
date=1533575851]
Hello,
I will try to explain this better. We received a letter from a
patient complaining about a situation with the receptionist.
The letter was addressed to a doctor which the patient has seen
previously. The doctor only works part time and does not handle
how things are done by the receptionist. The doctor gave the
letter to her boss to handle. The patient will not be coming
back to the office but the practice owner wants to address the
issues with the patient to let her know how the situation was
handled.
Jen
[/quote]
It sounds like she wanted to make sure the receptionist didn't
open it. But it wouldn't hurt for the doctor to call, apologize
and ask to pass it on to the receptionist's supervisor. I don't
know if the patient would be angry about it getting passed on or
not - I wouldn't, but some might.
#Post#: 10765--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Mrs. Tilney Date: August 6, 2018, 12:33 pm
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Agreed, it sounds like the patient just wanted to make sure the
receptionist didn't open it. I don't think the doctor needs to
check with the patient before consulting with their boss.
#Post#: 10766--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Hmmm Date: August 6, 2018, 12:47 pm
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[quote author=Jentile4 link=topic=587.msg10759#msg10759
date=1533575851]
Hello,
I will try to explain this better. We received a letter from a
patient complaining about a situation with the receptionist.
The letter was addressed to a doctor which the patient has seen
previously. The doctor only works part time and does not handle
how things are done by the receptionist. The doctor gave the
letter to her boss to handle. The patient will not be coming
back to the office but the practice owner wants to address the
issues with the patient to let her know how the situation was
handled.
Jen
[/quote]
I don't think the doctor needs approval to pass on the letter to
receptionist's boss. I think a response from the supervisor with
a "Ms. X, I am Office Manager for the practice. Dr. Who shared
your concern about your last visit with me. I want you to know
we appreciate feedback and are taking necessary actions to
address your concerns."
#Post#: 10768--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: TootsNYC Date: August 6, 2018, 1:02 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Jentile4 link=topic=587.msg10759#msg10759
date=1533575851]
Hello,
I will try to explain this better. We received a letter from a
patient complaining about a situation with the receptionist.
The letter was addressed to a doctor which the patient has seen
previously. The doctor only works part time and does not handle
how things are done by the receptionist. The doctor gave the
letter to her boss to handle. The patient will not be coming
back to the office but the practice owner wants to address the
issues with the patient to let her know how the situation was
handled.
Jen
[/quote]
I would think that the letter writer would realize the doctor
might have to share this with someone in order to act on the
contents.
And that marking it "personal and confidential" would keep
the random office staff from opening it, so it doesn't end up
creating drama (or not getting to its recipient).
In this case, I wouldn't ask for an OK to show it to someone who
could address it.
#Post#: 10846--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Aleko Date: August 7, 2018, 2:56 am
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[quote]I don't think the doctor needs approval to pass on the
letter to receptionist's boss. I think a response from the
supervisor with a "Ms. X, I am Office Manager for the practice.
Dr. Who shared your concern about your last visit with me. I
want you to know we appreciate feedback and are taking necessary
actions to address your concerns."[/quote]
But s/he does. Absolutely does. Confidentiality is a HUGE issue
in medicine, and even if the doctor assumes (as we all do) that
the letter was only marked P&C in order that the receptionist
wouldn't open it, once it is so labelled s/he is obliged to take
that label literally. If I sent anything to my doctor marked P&C
and got a response not from him but someone else who he had
passed it to for action, even if that was totally the logical
thing for him to do I would trust him a little less.
#Post#: 10853--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Sycorax Date: August 7, 2018, 6:52 am
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If the doctor is not to pass any of the information on, why even
bother to send the letter? Presumably, the patient wanted
*something* to come of the letter.
#Post#: 10864--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Hmmm Date: August 7, 2018, 9:21 am
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[quote author=Aleko link=topic=587.msg10846#msg10846
date=1533628562]
[quote]I don't think the doctor needs approval to pass on the
letter to receptionist's boss. I think a response from the
supervisor with a "Ms. X, I am Office Manager for the practice.
Dr. Who shared your concern about your last visit with me. I
want you to know we appreciate feedback and are taking necessary
actions to address your concerns."[/quote]
But s/he does. Absolutely does. Confidentiality is a HUGE issue
in medicine, and even if the doctor assumes (as we all do) that
the letter was only marked P&C in order that the receptionist
wouldn't open it, once it is so labelled s/he is obliged to take
that label literally. If I sent anything to my doctor marked P&C
and got a response not from him but someone else who he had
passed it to for action, even if that was totally the logical
thing for him to do I would trust him a little less.
[/quote]
I'm assuming the Dr. in question is well aware of patient
confidentiality requirements that involve personal medical
records and health information and would not even consider
forwarding a letter that contained anything in violation of
Hippa. Since this discussion was about something a receptionist
did, I would think the patient should understand that anything
that information a receptionist at the practice has access to,
her boss would most likely also have access to.
And I agree with Pandorica, the person was expecting something
to occur or while else would they even write the letter? Unless
a small one Dr practice (and since this Dr is part time, not
applicable here) I doubt any patient would assume the
receptionist reported to a part time Dr.
#Post#: 10866--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: Tea Drinker Date: August 7, 2018, 9:46 am
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I am not a lawyer, and I am sure the doctor in question knows a
lot more about HIPAA than I do, but it seems unlikely that
telling the practice manager that a patient complained about the
receptionist would be a problem. "She i insulted me because I
have AIDS" or "talked about my having cancer loudly enough that
my neighbor overheard it and asked me about it later" includes
medical information, but "the receptionist insulted me," "the
receptionist discussed my symptoms loudly enough that my
neighbor asked about them later," or a complaint about billing
or being kept waiting for two hours while people who got there
later were seen first doesn't.
#Post#: 11734--------------------------------------------------
Re: Personal And Confidential
By: guest657 Date: August 19, 2018, 10:46 pm
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The legend "personal and confidential", used correctly, means
that it contains s personal information about *the recipient*.
So co-workers or the mailroom shouldn't open it out of respect
for the addressee's privacy.
It has nothing to do with the sender's privacy. It is not
binding in any way. If someone sends a written request to an
employee about their work, it can't be private, because they
work for the company. (Or in this case, the medical practice)
If the person who got the letter wants to show it to their
supervisor, they can and should. For a business customer to
expect an employee to keep personal secrets or hide their work
from their boss is wildly inappropriate and unreasonable. It
smacks of shady dealing or over-familiarity, and could leave the
employee vulnerable to allegations of misconduct.
Patient confidentiality and attorney-client privilege don't ban
sharing information inside the practice/firm. Doctors don't do
their own typing and filing. They don't transcribe their own
notes. They don't run the lab tests, send prescriptions to the
pharmacy, or dispense the medication. They don't do the billing
or accounts receivable, or insurance processing. They don't
normally open their own mail or deal with any HR matters
concerning the staff. If you are getting medical services from a
doctor, then everyone who works at the practice has access to
your medical information -- that's their job.
It's not about assuming the patient's intentions or getting
permission. If the complaint is going to be addressed at all, it
has to go through someone else. The only way to keep the letter
private is to ignore it, and for the patient to assume otherwise
would be bizarre. Since the patient stated they aren't coming
back, it would be a complete waste of the doctor's time to try
to chase them down, and I don't think reasonable people trying
to do a job have any obligation to try to appease bizarre and
unreasonable expectations.
Of course, the attitude that "I'm complaining, but I'll never
come back to see if you changed anything!" and "I'm going to
send a complaint you should act on, but don't tell anyone!"
would seem to be related.
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