In an article published May 27, 2016, The Washington Post cautioned chiropractors and other health care providers facing negative reviews on Yelp and other ratings sites about “casting their patients’ privacy aside” and sharing HIPAA-protected details such as a diagnosis or treatment in an effort to rebut online criticism. The Post told the tale of a California chiropractor who “pushed back” against one patient’s mother’s claim that he misdiagnosed her daughter with scoliosis.
In a one-star review on Yelp, the patient’s mother encouraged patients to stay away from the chiropractor’s office. The chiropractor responded to the review, acknowledging that the reviewer’s daughter was a patient, a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which forbids providers from disclosing any patient health information without permission. The chiropractor also discussed the procedures he performed and his patient’s condition, though he did not disclose the exact diagnosis.
“You brought your daughter in for the exam in early March 2014,” he wrote. “The exam identified one or more of the signs I mentioned above for scoliosis. I absolutely recommended an x-ray to determine if this condition existed; this x-ray was at no additional cost to you… I proceeded to adjust your daughter and the adjustment went very well, as did the entire appointment; you made no mention of a ‘misdiagnosis’ or any other concern.”
If a patient feels like their privacy has been violated in this way, they could complain to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which enforces HIPAA. According to OCR, health providers responding to online reviews can speak generally about their methods and protocols, but must have permission to discuss specific, individual cases.
Deven McGraw, OCR’s deputy director of health information privacy, told the Post: “If the complaint is about poor patient care, they can come back and say, ‘I provide all of my patients with good patient care’ and ‘I’ve been reviewed in other contexts and have good reviews.’” But providers cannot “take those accusations on individually by the patient.”
Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informational only and does not constitute legal advice regarding any specific matter or situation. Legal advice may be given only on the basis of specific facts relayed by a client to an attorney.
Source: Washington Post, Doctors Fire Back at Bad Yelp Reviews – and Reveal Patients’ Information Online,” May 27, 2016