Thanks Melanie.  Warner

 

 

 

Several people have asked for this interpretive letter off-list, so I’m sharing with the group since we are on the EMR/privacy topic right now.

 

 

 

Melanie,

Do you have a copy of the OSHA Interpretive letter on HIPAA and the EMR?

 

 

 

Jennifer, for argument’s sake I’m assuming you are talking about bloodborne pathogen exposures. This touches on OSHA privacy requirements, HIPAA, and is very specific to each institution’s setup. You might see internal and external clients and have different privacy requirements for each. Other facilities may be different. I recommend you consult with your own institution’s privacy office or legal counsel. If your own employees are compelled to come to your clinic for baseline postexposure labwork, OSHA has issued an interpretive letter saying that just the hospital’s routine privacy protections around their EMR are not adequate, and that those labs must have additional privacy protections.

 

 

 

Hi All,

 

There have been questions recently about what lab work should be done after a significant exposure, but I am looking for information on how you maintain those records.  We currently use Epic for our occupational records.  When a significant exposure occurs, the lab work is done on paper and the results come to employee/occupational health.  For outside companies, our practice has been to scan the lab results into the epic record after all the results have come back.   What do you do with the lab results?  Do you keep a paper file for the exposed person?  Do you scan them into the record?

 

Thanks!

 

Jen

 

Jennifer Mora MSN, RN

Business Health and Wellness Coordinator

Stoughton Hospital

900 Ridge Street

Stoughton, WI 53589

 

Office 608-873-2204

Cell      608-235-4239

 

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