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2 Hospitals--1 system


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Hello,

My hospital just expanded and opened another hospital.  The laboratories are separate, however we are all in the same lab system.  The system recognizes the 2 different sites, but everyone has access to both sites results.

My question is, does anyone else have this?  I feel like there is a HIPAA issue here.  I have worked at two other organizations that had multiple entities and I have never had access to the other labs' results, unless I had access to an EMR and then I could see the results there, but never in my lab system.

I can only enter things into the other sites if I move the specimen and receive it into the other site, but just having access when many of us don'r work over there seems like a problem to me.  Also, because we are linked, the system doesn't recognize that a type and screen done at the other site doesn't apply to my site.

Thoughts?  Experiences?

 

Thanks!

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(I don't claim to be a HIPAA interpretation guru) but to me that sounds appropriate. As a blood banker, having access to clinical laboratory and especially blood bank information is valuable in establishing a history for a patient and isn't a breach of HIPAA if used for that purpose under the continuity of care.

We have access to our state's health information exchange, which is essentially a web-based database of all hospital encounter/medical record/laboratory documentation in the state for the past 4 years. We use it to determine history on antibody patients and it has been invaluable.

The only thing that seems odd is that it doesn't understand when a type and screen is done at one place or the other.

Edited by goodchild
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We are part of a multi-hospital system. We can view the results of all the hospitals that use the same medical record system that we do. It is extremely helpful when patients are transferred between hospitals for checking recent results (continuity of care as stated by goodchild).

Our less than helpful issue is that the LIS lets you view all units set up on a patient without differentiation as to their location. So sometimes it gets confusing that the patient may have had units set up at a sister hospital that were not released prior to his transfer to our hospital. We've learned to look for that as soon as we get the first specimen of a new admission.

But again this is information you are viewing in order to provide the best care for the patient.

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