Sound Masking Prevents HIPAA Violations Sound Masking Stops Confidentiality Leaks at the Doctor's Office Sound Masking Can Protect Your Patient's Privacy
It was 2006 and my spouse and I were seated in the waiting room of my obstetrician's office. I was expecting our first baby and just there for a normal check-up. It was an early morning appointment, so there was only one other patient in the waiting room with us. I recall noticing her because she looked young and she wasn't noticeably pregnant (like patients who joined me in the waiting room usually were.) The assistant called her back by name just before they called me back.
As my husband and I sat in the exam room and chatted, we heard the obstetrician open the door to the exam room right next to us and greet the person who had been in the lobby with us. Then, we very clearly heard a discussion between them about how the girl had engaged in some unhealthy practices and now was worried she had acquired an STD. My husband and I looked at each other flabbergasted that we had been privy to knowledge that was surely none of our business. We also did not like the fact that, if we could hear them as clearly as if they were sitting in the room beside us, then they obviously could hear us and our confidential conversations as well.
Before the midwife came into the room, I attempted to find out the reason the noise was carrying so well between the two rooms. I found out that the room had been retrofitted to fit the needs of this obstetrician's practice and that the wall between the two rooms came right up next to a window. There was a tiny amount of space between the window and the wall and that was at the bottom of the sound leak.
Besides it being an obvious breach of HIPAA laws, this type of predicament could possibly effect a physician's relationship with and care that they give to a person. If the person notices that what they tell their physician is not automatically confidential, they could be more nervous to give out information that could be pertinent to what care they should be receiving. The trust between a client and a physician should be fostered and guarded and this kind of disregard for the confidentiality of what is shared could be harmful to that.
An easy solution for the predicament would be to outfit the office with sound masking technology. With the addition of some slight background noise in each room, it would not have been nearly so easy to hear conversations in other rooms.
A straightforward solution for the problem of audible breaches of confidentiality would be to outfit the place with sound masking technology. With the addition of some subtle background or "white" noise in each room, it would not have been nearly so easy to hear discussions in other rooms.
Published April 29th, 2010
Filed in Business