Aug 2, 2007
Investigation of found medical records continues
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Copies of medical records found disposed of in a trash bin outside a Greenwich doctors’ office have been turned over to the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Representatives from OCR took possession of the records from the Post last Thursday in order to copy them as part of the ongoing investigation into whether the records being placed in a trash bin constitutes a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Post then turned the original records over to Drs. Alfred Padilla and Judith Goldberg-Berman for them to shred and dispose of.
The records were found in a box in early June inside a trash bin outside the Dearfield Medical Building at 4 Dearfield Drive, where Drs. Padilla and Goldberg-Berman maintain an office. The Post was tipped off to the presence of the box by someone who chose to remain anonymous. The source said he contacted the newspaper because of concerns about the records not being disposed of properly and patients’ privacy being violated.
An investigation into the matter by the OCR is under way after a complaint was filed in the wake of Greenwich Post first reporting the story in its June 7 edition. If the investigation determines the documents were improperly disposed of, the medical office could face penalties. The papers inside the box appeared to have come from the Padilla/Goldberg-Berman practice, which specializes in endocrinology and metabolism.
A spokesman for the OCR said it was the policy of the office not to comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation.
“Members of the OCR are now going through their resources,” the spokesman said. “They will consider all they know and review the complaint.”
The spokesman added there is no set time frame for how long the investigation will last.
Under the OCR process, the entity named in complaint, specifically the Padilla/Goldberg-Berman practice, would be notified about the investigation, as would the person filing the complaint. The entity would then have to present information about the incident. The practice, which is covered under HIPAA, is required to cooperate and there is no indication the doctors have done anything but cooperate fully.
The OCR will review all the information gathered in the case to determine whether the privacy rule has been violated. If it is determined the doctors were not in compliance, the OCR would seek to resolve the complaint through voluntary compliance, corrective action or resolution agreement. According to the OCR Web site, Hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa, most complaints are resolved to the agency’s satisfaction through this process. Once it’s resolved, the complainant is notified.
Penalties are not standard and are imposed only if the entity does not make necessary changes if the forms are found to have been improperly disposed of.
The box contained information about lab tests and insurance approvals as well as other medical issues. The documents are not medical charts, but do contain patient names and contact information. Under HIPAA guidelines, documents such as the ones found are supposed to be kept confidential and then shredded before being disposed of.
At the time the
Post first interviewed Dr. Padilla, he said the office followed HIPAA guidelines very carefully and that the rule in the office was to shred all documents being disposed of. He said he didn’t know how the box ended up in the trash bin and speculated it might have been accidentally thrown out by the building’s cleaning crew.
Dr. Padilla spoke to the
Post on Monday and said he was trying to figure out what had happened.
“The action we take all depends on how the material got into the Dumpster in the first place,” Dr. Padilla said. “That’s what we want to find out. We have a process in place to prevent this from happening.
“Once we find out how that material got in there, we will be able to make sure it never happens again.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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