HIPPA & Applicant Drug Screen

[HRRecruiter]

I'm employed by a Healthcare company with headquarters in Texas, but I'm assigned to and work everyday out of a field office in Louisiana. I pay Louisiana state income taxes.

Recently, I asked an applicant to take a drug screen as part of the company's screening process. We were interested in hiring her. She agreed and called her physician requesting he fax a list of her prescriptions to the Path Lab where the drug screen was scheduled. The Path Lab faxed me her drug screen results, which indicating a positive reaction to one of the controlled substances.

I discussed the drug screen results with the applicant and she was surprised because she thought the prescription list her physician faxed to the Path Lab would have explained a potential positive reaction. She left my office saying she was going to talk with her physician.

About two hours later, her physician called me at my office. He said that he had spoken with the applicant and reviewed the prescription list he faxed the Path Lab. As a result, he discovered he had submitted an incomplete list to the Path Lab. He stated he was correcting the list and would re-fax it. He asked me if I wanted him to fax a copy to me also. I told him faxing the list to the Path Lab was sufficient for company purposes. I didn't give him the company fax number and I never received a fax from him.

The phone conversation between the physician and myself was brief. It did not include any discussion or naming of medications included in his two lists. It was entirely procedural; he had an updated list, he was faxing it the Lab, did I want a fax also. No, I did not need a fax copy.

Three days later, I was called to Corporate and told I had violating HIPPA regulations. They said a complaint had been filed and I was being written up for it. No detailed explanation was given except the statement that I should not have talked to her physician. I was not asked or permitted to provide any details before receiving this disciplinary action.

My question, "Is this really a HIPPA violation?" I would appreciate an informed opinion.

 

[army judge]

You have received an informed opinion, the only one that matters, your employer's.
Your employer told you their thoughts, and that's controlling.
If you dispute their opinion, you can appeal it according to your company's HR policies.
Or, you can HIRE a lawyer and file a lawsuit.
I suggest you speak with HR and seek clarification about the entire matter.

I've never heard of any company (in the last decade) requiring an applicant's physician to reveal the applicant's medication.
That used to be required in the 1980s, but in recent memory no company does that.
That could be the basis for the complaint.
Again, I suggest a sit down discussion with HR seeking information on your company's drug testing policy for applicants.

 

[Proserpina]

Hmmm. OP, I'm a little concerned here.

How does your lab usually do things? I'm asking because the industry standards for urine collection do not include actually recording the prescriptions beforehand. If there's a positive result, then the MRO will contact the employee directly to discuss relevant prescription (and can often confirm it with a simple phone call to your pharmacy). Contacting the prescribing physician makes absolutely no sense at all - it's the pharmacy who would provide the important information.

 

[cbg]

If your employer is not pleased with the way you managed the affair, they may write you up whether it is a HIPAA violation or not.

 

[Betty3]

Agree. If your employer felt your handled the situation incorrectly, you can be written up HIPAA violation or not. I don't see an illegal write up.

 

[HRRecruiter]

HHRecruiter

Agree. If your employer felt your handled the situation incorrectly, you can be written up HIPAA violation or not. I don't see an illegal write up.

I see your point and believe me I've looked at this situation a 100 ways from Sunday. I accept I can be written up by my employer if that's their desire. My goal is to find out if this is really a violation of HIPPA regulations, and why so I don't get back into this situation again. While I see your point, I would also point out that companies are not entitled (legally or morally) to write up an employee for violation of a serious company policy such 'breaching confidential trade secrets' when in fact he was just 5 minutes late returning from his morning break.

 

[HRRecruiter]

If your employer is not pleased with the way you managed the affair, they may write you up whether it is a HIPAA violation or not.

Yes, that's so, but can they write you up specifically for a HIPPA violation without stating what the violation was or when in the process it occurred. Last time I got a traffic ticket, the officer told me what regulation I broke, where it occurred and a few other items before issuing a citation.

 

[HRRecruiter]

You have received an informed opinion, the only one that matters, your employer's.
Your employer told you their thoughts, and that's controlling.
If you dispute their opinion, you can appeal it according to your company's HR policies.
Or, you can HIRE a lawyer and file a lawsuit.
I suggest you speak with HR and seek clarification about the entire matter.

I've never heard of any company (in the last decade) requiring an applicant's physician to reveal the applicant's medication.
That used to be required in the 1980s, but in recent memory no company does that.
That could be the basis for the complaint.
Again, I suggest a sit down discussion with HR seeking information on your company's drug testing policy for applicants.

Let me start by clarifying a point. My company nor I have never required or even suggested a physician reveal an applicant's medication. This applicant called her doctor and asked him to get involved. When he called me and offered to fax her med list to me, I declined to receive it and never did.

As an HR Recruiter, I'm a member of the HR function. I was not acting alone. I was receiving and following instructions from higher up the HR chain of command while this situation was in process. I'll survive a write-up. I just want to know where the violation is so I don't go there in the future.

 

[disagreeable]

Did she give you written permission to discuss her test results with the doctor? Normally there is a designated medical review officer to do this or a fail is simply accepted and the person is not hired,

 

[Proserpina]

I see your point and believe me I've looked at this situation a 100 ways from Sunday. I accept I can be written up by my employer if that's their desire. My goal is to find out if this is really a violation of HIPPA regulations, and why so I don't get back into this situation again. While I see your point, I would also point out that companies are not entitled (legally or morally) to write up an employee for violation of a serious company policy such 'breaching confidential trade secrets' when in fact he was just 5 minutes late returning from his morning break.

It's HIPAA. Not HIPPA.

How long have you been doing this job? I'm still curious about what you say occurred.

 

[Proserpina]

Did she give you written permission to discuss her test results with the doctor? Normally there is a designated medical review officer to do this or a fail is simply accepted and the person is not hired,

The protocol is fairly simplistic. The lab tests the specimen. When there's a positive, it goes to the MRO. There's no need to fax the medication list - ever. When the MRO sees a positive, they will do one of two things and neither of them involve looking at a list of prescriptions since they don't actually prove anything useful.

The pharmacy is where the info resides

 

[cbg]

I would also point out that companies are not entitled (legally or morally) to write up an employee for violation of a serious company policy such 'breaching confidential trade secrets' when in fact he was just 5 minutes late returning from his morning break.

Morally, I would agree with you. Legally, there is no law saying they can't. And he can certainly be written up for returning five minutes late from his break.