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HIPS
Series >
Privacy
Issues for Fundraisers > Quiz
 The
questions are below. If you need to review, the course content
is here.
The correct answers,
and explanations for why we believe them to be correct, are
provided here.
Please note that Better Samaritan Hospital (BSH) and Big
State University (BSU) are fictional organizations. Any resemblance
to existing institutions or persons is purely coincidental.
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• • • •
1. At Better Samaritan Hospital, physicians have an informal
practice of notifying the Development Office of particularly
"grateful" patients, sometimes when those patients
are still in the hospital. This allows the Development Office
to establish contact to discuss donation options right way.
A. It is not a HIPAA violation to get to patients as soon
as possible, when their "gratitude" is still at
a high level, if you are reasonably sure they are mentally
competent and interested in making a donation.
B. It is not a HIPAA violation if the Development Office
learns about the diagnosis or treatment with the patient's
oral agreement to allow such a use or disclosure.
C. It is not a HIPAA violation if the patient provides a
written authorization for the use or disclosure of protected
health information for fundraising.
D. HIPAA allows each institution to decide on the appropriate
procedures for their internal uses, though external disclosures
require authorization.
C is correct. Written authorization is required,
even in the face of clear oral expressions of gratitude. Institutions
do not get to decide for themselves.
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2. Like many hospitals, Better Samaritan has a VIP program
for its big donors -- and for persons considered likely prospects
for future large donations. As part of that program, the Development
Office monitors the hospitals' computerized scheduling system,
flagging VIPs' upcoming appointments. Development provides
an "escort" to make sure each VIP gets seen without
a wait, by the hospitals' best clinicians.
A. It can't be illegal to try to secure the best care for
your big donors, and this sort of program only benefits them.
B. HIPAA rules allow use or disclosure of dates of service,
so this kind of information use would be permitted without
an authorization.
C. Access to the appointments schedule tells the Development
Office about patients' treatments (and possibly diagnoses
too), so it requires written authorization.
D. HIPAA allows each institution to decide on the appropriate
procedures for such internal uses, though external disclosures
require authorization.
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3. Friends of Better Samaritan Foundation (FBSF) is the hospital's
affiliated non-profit fundraising organization. The Development
Office regularly sends over lists of VIP patients to FBSF.
Since this is an "internal" transfer, what kinds
of protected health
A. No information of any kind can be sent without an authorization.
B. Development can send basic demographic information and
dates of past service, just as it would for a business associate
doing fundraising on their behalf.
C. Since it is an "internal" transfer, FBSF can
receive some basic information about diagnoses and treatments,
but no more than that.
D. There are no limits on transfers to an affiliated foundation,
because it is an "internal" transfer.
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4. Better Samaritan is planning a capital campaign, focusing
on raising funds for its two new specialty clinics for cancer
and heart disease. It wants to target a mailing to patients
who have been seen in its facility for those conditions in
the last five years.
A. It is permissible to target the hospital's former cancer
and heart patients as long as the fundraising communication
includes an "opt out" from future mailings.
B. It is permissible to target former cancer and heart patients,
but by using the patient lists of physicians in those specialties
rather than the hospital's patient lists, as long as there
is an opt out.
C. It is a HIPAA violation to do a targeted mailing unless
the hospital has a written authorization for such a fundraising
use. Absent an authorization, the only alternative is a general
mailing to all patients.
D. HIPAA allows each institution to decide on the appropriate
procedures for their internal uses of this kind, though external
disclosures require authorization.
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5. Better Samaritan's Marketing Department is interested
in filling the beds of those specialty clinics with paying
patients. It wants to join forces with the Development Office
and send marketing materials along with the fundraising literature.
Is this OK?
A. Why not. It'll save on postage if the target audience
is the same.
B. It may be OK, depending on what information was used
to target the information; separate authorizations might be
required.
C. It is OK as long as there are separate opt-outs for future
marketing and fundraising mailings.
D. This sort of mixing is expressly prohibited by HIPAA.
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The
correct answers, and explanations for why we believe them
to be correct, are provided here.
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