Posted on 10/30/2017 5:35:35 PM PDT by learner
I have received an invitation to a luncheon to discuss my back nerve problems from a group I do not know. The only people who know about this problem are my doctors who are all within the same group. So how did this other group know about my problem? Did someone sell my medical problem? That would be a HPIA violation of the law. This was a personal addressed invitation. I am not sure how to proceed, but if I get some great advice here, I will send $250 to FR and as Proof of that commitment, I will send $100 tonight on account. J R can confirm if he wants. If someone is selling my medical records, I want to know.
Learner.
“That would be a HPIA violation of the law.” I thought you were asking for someone to determine whether such a violation occurred and to advise you on how to proceed.
I doubt very much that someone sold your info. See the rest of my prior response.
One thing you can do is if your state is a public record state is to look in your state’s dept of state division of corporation data base (if they are incorporated therein) and see who the registered agents are. You may find that somebody associated with the medical practice is an agent for the company. You could also ask your doctors about any interests they may have in any company selling devices or therapies associated with your problem. If you feel there is a conflict of interest you can always make a complaint to the state medical board.
As someone else wrote the invitation was most likely not personal but a mass mailing made to appear that way.
Doctors violate Hiippa every day. I drive my 20 something son to doctors. I pay his bills. You would not believe how many docs come to the waiting room and start speaking to me about my son’s condition or reason for visit. I let them talk, while my son fumes, then I say, “You’ve just violated the Hiippa laws.” They stumble and stutter. They also do this for my mom (Alzheimers) without having any document saying I am her legal guardian. I am, but they have never asked. They need to discuss her condition with only me, but they should demand legal coverage.
The cover for your doctor or medical group for inviting you to this is that they will invite EVERY PATIENT IN THR GROUP even if the lecture or seminar doesn’t apply to them. I have a pituitary tumor and am always invited to Cedars Sinai (and they gots good lawyers) Pituitary events. No Hiippa violation as they gave my address or email, NOTHING about my condition. Plenty of the topics do not apply to me at all. I bet your docs are in the clear here, even though docs as per above mess up on Hiippa all the time.
if you hit a lot of health related sites they target you, they are paid big dollars for people with health related issues.
If you google about yourself or a loved one, you will be targeted. They can find out everything about you.
Invited you to a luncheon? It’s a scam. Run. Don’t stop. Just run. Don’t communicate with them at all.
Find a text string in the invitation that is likely to be unique, and do a Google search for that probably-unique string BETWEEN QUOTES.
Back pain is so common that you might just be the target of a company's ad campaign that sent the invitations to the general population, without knowledge of the medical histories of the invitations' recipients. If so, you will probably figure that out from the results of the Internet search.
That is exactly what I was thinking. I can even look something up on my phone and I will see ads on my laptop.
Not to mention, in some of the data breaches, you may have had a record of who you paid for what.
the net tracks you and your every search even if its just a quick one...
also, sometimes these people just throw out these invitations to many many people hoping it touches a nerve with a couple hundred...
not to mention that anybody over the age of 60 probably has some kind of back pain....easy thing to do is cast a wide net....
Second possibility less likely is social media if you mentioned having the condition and you were traced back that way. They do have programs which look for key words to advertise to you. I'd bet more on insurance though because they have the most to gain if they can point you to information in treatment which can cut their cost. Doctors have too many legalinese headaches just trying to keep their practice open without inviting potential trouble. The fact you said in one post your name was not on the letter inside but just on the envelope sounds more like you got on a mailing list for persons with that ailment.
That and doing on-line research. Some years ago I did some light research on condos and have been getting periodic mailings with statements like "Save big on fees for your condo" or "Sell your condo through us"....never talked to anyone, or even looked at any - just did some on-line browsing...
If thinking lawsuit - you probably have even less on "whoever" than Mueller has on Trump....
Browsing history is sold now much as catalog mailing lists have long been sold. It’s an indicator of potential interest to marketers and manufacturers. They don’t know the first thing about you personally other than that “marker” of potential interest indicated via your browsing history. Where it can get scary is when it’s compiled with other indicators, financial data which is sold, zip code, income, medical history, etc. at which point a fair amount about you personally can be known, but even then they’re typically not interested in you per se, they’re interested in selling something. Nefarious uses are certainly possible, however.
“I have noticed that I also have received info and invites to things when I have googled certain medical conditions. I have a feeling google sells that info to interested parties.”
This one of the many ways Google makes Billions of $’s each year.
“Trust me”
Why?
Because I work in a hospital and I deal with HIPPA Cases every day. But, if you want to believe the conspiracy theorists..have a ball.
Then you should know that only certain items are protected.
If you think about it, you can expect that your doctor would be at pains to assure you that he is not violating HIPPA. He would want you to believe that someone else is behind this, and I’m certainly not assuming that he in fact is. But if someone raised the issue of a crime being committed, and if you had opportunity and conceivably motive, you would want to promote the idea that it was someone else.
I don’t know who taught you about HIPPA, but NO identifiable information may be released with explicit permission. We cannot even confirm that someone is in the hospital without a positive affirmation. The default is we don’t release ANY information to anyone but providers and insurance.
Thanks, I missed that.
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