[ponygirl]

I called several hospitals in a panic last year looking for a relative I couldn’t locate (who was supposed to meet me somewhere and did not show up and would not answer their cell phone) and every single hospital looked up the information for me without hesitation.

[fireman15]

Yes, our policy allowed me to give out only the numbers to our local hospitals and give no information as to whether a person was transported or not or even if we had any contact with that person. We have half a dozen hospitals that we normally transport to and another half dozen that we sometimes transport to. If I was dealing with a distraught family member of a person with a serious injury or illness I will admit here that my coworkers and I didn't give that person a long list of numbers. Lets just say that the list got narrowed down considerably and I do not believe that violated the spirit of the law, despite what some smart a$$ 30 year old lawyer decided when writing the policy. I don't know of anyone who ever got called on the carpet for it.

HIPPA has been twisted and distorted by government bureaucracies and insurance companies to benefit them and not the people it was originally meant to protect. Like so many other things that the government touches it has turned into a steaming pile of nonsense.