Care manager at children’s shared details of child’s ER visit with school

[Anonymous]

My child was seen, treated and then released from the ER at Children’s a few weeks ago. The issue wasn’t life threatening and it didn’t pose a public health threat (like Covid, TB or anything infectious). A few days after the visit, I got a call from the school nurse asking me if I had a chance to follow up with our pediatrician. I was confused because I had never mentioned the ER visit to the school as the issue turned out to be an easily resolved, minor one. The school nurse said she was contacted by an ER/community health nurse about my child’s visit and she just wanted to confirm that we were following up. She said that this is done for all kids in DCPS/charters as protocol, but I’ve never had this happen before and was quite offended by it. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Anonymous]

I believe DCPS school nurses are provided through a contract with Children's.

[Anonymous]

What is offensive about this?
Could you have signed a waiver of information without realizing it?

[Anonymous]

This seems to be a violation of HIPPA unless you signed a form that unknowingly allowed Children’s to share info with the school. Even if your school nurse is contracted to Children’s your child was not their patient at Children’s. Therefore they shouldn’t have had access to the info.

[Anonymous]

I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. There are a lot of of families without regular doctors for whom this would be helpful follow up and might put them in touch with resources they could use to manage care.

Don't be offended OP. Don't look for things to be angry about or offended by....you're lucky you can manage the post ER visit care on your own, many cannot and this is likely helping them.

[Anonymous]

Even if this is a violation if HIPAA, I think this is a good thing. They're making sure that some kids don't fall through the cracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is offensive about this?
Could you have signed a waiver of information without realizing it?

What is offensive about a health care provider sharing medical info with an outside entity? That is a big issue.

[Anonymous]

It seems intrusive but I think it’s just a blanket policy and the goal is the make sure generally neglected kids are ok. They can’t single out so they made it universal.

[Anonymous]

Don't take it personally.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to see how this is not a HIPAA violation, unless you gave explicit permission for this information to be shared with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if this is a violation if HIPAA, I think this is a good thing. They're making sure that some kids don't fall through the cracks.

That’s not how the law works though. You don’t get to set it aside because you think that’s a good thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't take it personally.

DP. I take my child’s privacy very seriously. This would really bother me and unless they are considering their school nurses as part of Childrens, a likely privacy violation.

[Anonymous]

Your poor child has concerned people checking up on him. Watch out for what you wish for.

[Anonymous]

Let's imagine a different story -
A 16 YO has a miscarriage and goes to the ER. The school nurse calls 2 weeks later asking if you followed up.

Would you still think it is OK for the school nurse to call home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is offensive about this?
Could you have signed a waiver of information without realizing it?

What is offensive about a health care provider sharing medical info with an outside entity? That is a big issue.

It’s not an outside entity. She is an employee off CNMC. If she shared it with school staff that’s an issue.