Cory Franklin, a physician, has a commentary on HIPAA in the Chicago Tribune that begins this way:
Recently, at my local Starbucks I asked the barista behind the counter about a medical problem she had that will require surgery. Her answer left me astonished, “Management said I can’t talk about my health — it’s a HIPAA violation.”
This shows what a farce things have become with HIPAA, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Forget for a moment about the kind of management that mandates such nonsense. From the outset, this law has been poorly understood and badly implemented.