Going to work today brought a mix of dread and boredom to have to attend an all morning meeting. However, my eyes were opened on one of the topics of the day. The one topic that gripped me was on HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountablility Act) and the privacy rule protection of individuals health information and their rights.
While working in the health industry for years you become accustom to maintaining a patients privacy and being careful on what you say and document. However, there is a whole other sinister world out there ready to illegally grab that information in any devious way they can, which makes it all the more imperative to remain vigilant in our privacy rules and proceedures and to become more proactive to prevent this.
Yep....IDENTITY THEFT. We all know it exists. We read about it every day. Many of us have experienced it. But how much do we really know the degree and lengths a criminal will go to, to get that precious information. They sit in medical offices listening for any private information from staff and other patients so they can gather their personal data. How many times have you or someone you know, gone into an office and sat there "visiting" with another patient, telling them all about your health problems, your insurance coverage from where you work, where you live, how many kids you have, who they are. Have you exchanged phone numbers, email addresses and home address and even your birthdate if you just happened to have one with someone you know? Then the clinical staff comes out and calls you by name. HMMMMMMMM.....
The "criminal" now has a boat load of info on you and is prepared to use it!
There are people who sit in offices to hear the nurses call pts. Yes, Mrs Jones, this is Kathy withs Dr. So and So's office and we have your XYZ prescription (vicodin, OXY whatever) called into ABC pharmacy and it should be there for you. Let me just verify your date of birth, address and phone number and insurance. Joe the crook then goes to ABC pharmacy after waiting the appropriate time, states Mrs Jones is in the car and not feeling well after her surgery...but I'll go see if I can get her to come in if it's a problem and yep you guessed it...he is given the RX. A half hour later the REAL Mrs. Jones goes into get her RX and it's not there. This is a reality folks and is only going to get worse.
My advice is to really watch where you are, know who you are talking to and be careful of what info you share openly when others are within listening distance.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Long Overdue Update
It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. Shame on me. The cycle of life is ever changing and as such so has our lives. The weather is warming and the yard work is well on the way to being complete. Yeah right.....that is a job that is forever on going.
I tell myself every spring that I won't get into any big project with the gardening stuff and end up knee deep in dirt, mulch and flowers. How and WHY do I continue to ask for trouble. The "little extension" of our flower bed 5 years ago has turned into an on going, never ending project.
It has turned out pretty well in the long run. Mostly sun in the back so alot of the plants are more tropical and drought resistant. The deer and other animals have made keeping things blooming a challenge. I think after a couple of years of assisting the deer and rabbits with dinner via my plants, I have finally become wiser and out smarted them. I hope.....
I use a filament line and stretch it all across the edge of the beds to keep the deer away. So far this is the best thing. I use fishing line and make sure it is just high enough off the ground to hit them at the lower chest area. They can't see it and are detoured from entering. All the sprays with the foul smells were a nuisance for me. The one bottle cracked and we had an awful coyote urine odor in our garage for weeks! I enjoy being a wannabe green thumb gardener, it's just the initial start up with all the mulch that is rough. 10 yards - What were we thinking!!! I hurt for 2 days after.
Our mailbox that was wiped out in Jan. by a teenager going too fast in bad weather has finally been replaced. This is the 4th time in 18 years we have had this problem. Dear hubby tho has always reset the next one in mucho amounts of concrete and then with this latest wipe out, it became a big problem because now he had to dig out 3 feet of a concrete block. The parents of the driver promised they would handle the replacment repeateldly when the weather got better. After many calls and no answer we finally got tired of the wait. Thank goodness for our son in law that he could help get the job done. Of course when the mailbox was done, that led to us using his muscles to move other large items in the house. With the promise of a home cooked meal it was a snap. I have the feeling we may not see him again in a LONG while. Poor guy.
I tell myself every spring that I won't get into any big project with the gardening stuff and end up knee deep in dirt, mulch and flowers. How and WHY do I continue to ask for trouble. The "little extension" of our flower bed 5 years ago has turned into an on going, never ending project.
It has turned out pretty well in the long run. Mostly sun in the back so alot of the plants are more tropical and drought resistant. The deer and other animals have made keeping things blooming a challenge. I think after a couple of years of assisting the deer and rabbits with dinner via my plants, I have finally become wiser and out smarted them. I hope.....
I use a filament line and stretch it all across the edge of the beds to keep the deer away. So far this is the best thing. I use fishing line and make sure it is just high enough off the ground to hit them at the lower chest area. They can't see it and are detoured from entering. All the sprays with the foul smells were a nuisance for me. The one bottle cracked and we had an awful coyote urine odor in our garage for weeks! I enjoy being a wannabe green thumb gardener, it's just the initial start up with all the mulch that is rough. 10 yards - What were we thinking!!! I hurt for 2 days after.
Our mailbox that was wiped out in Jan. by a teenager going too fast in bad weather has finally been replaced. This is the 4th time in 18 years we have had this problem. Dear hubby tho has always reset the next one in mucho amounts of concrete and then with this latest wipe out, it became a big problem because now he had to dig out 3 feet of a concrete block. The parents of the driver promised they would handle the replacment repeateldly when the weather got better. After many calls and no answer we finally got tired of the wait. Thank goodness for our son in law that he could help get the job done. Of course when the mailbox was done, that led to us using his muscles to move other large items in the house. With the promise of a home cooked meal it was a snap. I have the feeling we may not see him again in a LONG while. Poor guy.
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