NEWS ARTICLES





Over the last several years we have all seen a great deal of emphasis placed on the privacy of patients involved with EMS operations. Depending on your organization’s status, HIPAA may or may not apply to your particular organization; however the privacy issues involved with HIPAA should concern everyone.

Most organizations do a good job at maintaining patient privacy; however there is one area which we have noted with some concern. When supplying PCR reports in order to substantiate an internal claim for workers compensation for the injury of a first responder or a similar matter, the patient’s name and any contact information should be redacted from the copy of the report sent to the insurance company. They do not have the right to that information and must go through the same process as everyone else if they require it. Most of the time, your injury report and a copy of the alarm record will suffice for your workers compensation carrier, but if they require information regarding the particular call responded to when the first responder was injured, they do not require full disclosure of private information.

Be certain to remove the pertinent information from the copy you send in. DO NOT change any information on your original which may be required by your organization in any future claim.

Finally, we here at Emergency Services Insurance Program would like to thank all of you for everything you’ve done for your communities over the last year. We would like to wish all of you as well as all of your families a very happy holiday season, and a safe one as well.