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Did Senate Candidate Stolle Dunnavant (VA-12) Violate HIPAA with Campaign Letter to Patients?

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I received a copy of a letter Dr. Siobhan Stolle Dunnavant sent to her patients concerning her campaign for Virginia Senate in the 12th District. The picture below is a bit small to read, but a PDF version is available by clicking this link.

It would appear that Dunnavant has accessed her patient files and sent a letter telling them she is running for Senate and what to expect during the legislative session should she win the seat.

And then the letter goes on to solicit help and volunteers for her campaign along with the campaign website.

At the very end of the letter, we are told that the letter was paid for and authorized by “Friends of Siobhan Dunnavent” which is her campaign.

There was also the following attached to the information I received:

Obviously, the person receiving the letter was not happy that their personal information has been divulged to the campaign.

According to the Health and Human Services website:

What Information is Protected

Protected Health Information. The Privacy Rule protects all “individually identifiable health information” held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate, in any form or media, whether electronic, paper, or oral. The Privacy Rule calls this information “protected health information (PHI).”12

“Individually identifiable health information” is information, including demographic data, that relates to:

  • the individual’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition,
  • the provision of health care to the individual, or
  • the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual,

and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual.13Individually identifiable health information includes many common identifiers (e.g., name, address, birth date, Social Security Number). 

The Privacy Rule excludes from protected health information employment records that a covered entity maintains in its capacity as an employer and education and certain other records subject to, or defined in, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. §1232g.

De-Identified Health Information. There are no restrictions on the use or disclosure of de-identified health information.14 De-identified health information neither identifies nor provides a reasonable basis to identify an individual. There are two ways to de-identify information; either: (1) a formal determination by a qualified statistician; or (2) the removal of specified identifiers of the individual and of the individual’s relatives, household members, and employers is required, and is adequate only if the covered entity has no actual knowledge that the remaining information could be used to identify the individual.15

Now I am not an expert in HIPAA laws but it would appear to me that Dr. Dunnavant has given private information including name and addresses of her patients. Which, according to the quoted text above individually identifies patients in violation of their privacy.

Now I wouldn’t think that a letter telling patients what to expect should their doctor be elected to office would be inappropriate if it came directly from the doctor and not the campaign. But at least one of her patients is not happy about having their personal information released to a political campaign.

Dr. Dunnavant has some explaining and some apologies to do. And if this does, indeed, constitute a breach of the HIPAA laws, there may be a lot more than explaining required.


Article written by: Tom White


Source: http://www.varight.com/news/did-senate-candidate-stolle-dunnavant-va-12-violate-hipaa-with-campaign-letter-to-patients/


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