Privacy at risk in health worker's conversations

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From The Los Angeles Times June 14, 2004

Privacy at risk in health workers' conversations - by Jane E.

Patient privacy laws may have restricted the way that doctors and

hospitals can use your personal information, but they don't do much to

stop conversations among health workers in hallways, elevators, waiting

rooms and cafeterias.

Those discussions make patients vulnerable to identity theft,

discrimination or social stigma, says Brann, lead author of a

privacy study and now an assistant communication studies professor at

West Virginia University. The possibility could also deter patients from

sharing important information with their doctors or nurses.

While pursuing her master's thesis at Purdue University in Indiana,

Brann recorded what she heard healthcare workers say about patients in

public settings. Among the worst examples: a receptionist speaking to

insurance companies on a speaker phone and employees giving out

patients' phone numbers, addresses and Social Security numbers to

insurance companies within earshot of other patients. The most common

breach occurred in employees' casual conversations about patients and

co-workers while at their workstations or in the cafeteria.

Brann's findings appear in the spring issue of the journal Health

Communication.