[edge919]

This doesn’t say it applies to people who have not been clients.

[sometime lurker]

You are entitled to believe what you want, obviously. I'm pointing out that there are at least some lawyers in the health care field who believe it may violate HIPAA to deny that someone is a patient, and several health care organizations whose posted policies follow such legal opinions. I would also point out while there may be debate about confirming or denying during the time of hospitalization (relatives may be desperately seeking their loved one) the HIPAA standard of "minimum necessary" would strengthen giving out anything about a 40 plus year old hospitalization (on non hospitalization.) The minimum necessary standard:

It is based on sound current practice that protected health information should not be used or disclosed when it is not necessary to satisfy a particular purpose or carry out a function.

The original point was that a site claimed they had checked with several hospitals all of whom said "not born here." The site named no names, gave no specifics of how the information was obtained, just a bald claim. From what I know of HIPAA, I doubted it and gave reasons why. The most basic: hospitals would first check if the person inquiring had the right to the information. If no, the hospital would not even bother looking for the answer. I think that's as far as you and I can go with this, so goodbye for now.