Reply to HR/Benefits Experts: Are those work health screenings really confidential?

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[quote=Anonymous]Okay.  The information is PHI (protected health information) and there are several ways companies can structure information sharing.

The health plan is the entity that is responsible for keeping the information safe.  There are people that work on the health plan (a few HR, certain IT folks, etc.) that have to undergo training about keeping the information safe and how and when they can disclose it.  They can also be personally liable if the information is disclosed.

The plan can tell an employer about certain information in order to price premiums (typically aggregate information) and even specific information if they need it to structure benefits.  However, they can't use the information against you for health plan purposes and they can't do anything to your employment based on the information.  The general rule is that employers don't want it.  They want the aggregate data (it may also be de-identified which means they remove all ways of linking the data to an individual) there or they have a third party analyze it for them and give them plan design suggestions.  They do this because they want to stay away with a 10-foot pole.   There is no benefit in knowing who has what condition because they can't use it and just knowing it makes them open to liability for claims if they need to terminate you or take other action (because you can argue that it was because of your health condition, etc.)

The way these programs are structured is that a third party collects the data and then tells payroll when you get a credit.  This usually ends up resulting in having to limit premium data to fewer folks and then training them on keeping the information confidential.  If they are also announcing that they are not disclosing to the company (without a caveat - "we will not tell your employer" vs. "we only disclose as allowed under HIPAA"), then they are not disclosing.  They can't get you to take tests under the guise of confidentiality and then turn around and share the data.

Hope this helps.  [/quote]

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