HIPAA and Breastfeeding Support: It Matters
HIPAA is a super long-winded and fairly complicated law that boils down to dictating how the health care industry treats personally identifying information for patients. Lactation consultants tend to use the word clients vs patients to describe those who they work with, but HIPAA laws still apply. Any question of the applicability of HIPAA to lactation consultants was erased when the Affordable Care Act established that insurance companies are supposed to reimburse for breastfeeding support services. If the service is even potentially reimbursable by insurance, HIPAA applies.
But what if insurances won’t reimburse for my particular certification? Insurance companies are slimy, shifty creeps who actively work to get out of paying for anything by creating ridiculous and unnecessary hoops for people to jump through to get the services they are entitled to. When it comes to breastfeeding services, they are particularly crafty at avoiding their responsibilities. This however does not absolve breastfeeding support professionals from the obligation to provide services in a HIPAA compliant manner since they should be reimbursed by insurance. Don’t let the insurance industry’s unethical practices encourage you to not practice at the highest ethical level; strive to always be better than that.
What does HIPAA require we protect?
HIPAA requires we maintain protected health information (PHI) in a manner that preserves client privacy. PHI is anything that could tie information to a specific individual. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Names (Full, or Last Name and Initial)
Dates (other than year) directly related to an individual
Phone Numbers
Fax numbers
Email addresses
Social Security numbers
Medical record numbers
Health insurance beneficiary numbers
Account numbers
Certificate/license numbers
Vehicle identifiers (including serial numbers and license plate numbers)
Device identifiers and serial numbers;
Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers
Biometric identifiers, including finger, retinal, and voice prints
Full face photographic images and any comparable images
Check out this article for more information about what counts as PHI.
Why should breastfeeding supporters always worry about client privacy…parents often aren’t that worried about it?
Most breastfeeding parents are not consciously aware of how much private information they may end up disclosing about their medical and personal histories when getting a great lactation assessment (Information about their reproductive history, photos of their breasts, information about their mental health, etc.). We handle a lot of potentially sensitive information, and we owe our clients the duty of protecting their information regardless of how they choose to share their information with others. We should never be the reason their information ended up where they didn’t want it.
How am I supposed to know how to protect their privacy? HIPAA is super confusing!
I agree, HIPAA can be confusing! As a small lactation business, it can feel overwhelming, but thankfully there are easily accessible and affordable options for maintaining the information our clients share with us in compliant manners.
There is also a business and Facebook group devoted to helping you know how to manage HIPAA regulations. At a bare minimum I encourage everyone operating as a breastfeeding professional in the United States to check out the Facebook group. It’s free and it will change the way you think about your obligations to protect client privacy in a good way.
My certification doesn’t seem to require HIPAA compliance, are you really sure it applies?
I have yet to come across a lactation related scope of practice that allows for handling health information that doesn’t require protecting client privacy (If you know of one, let me know!). HIPAA is the bare minimum government regulation for how health information should be handled to protect privacy. I think we can all agree our clients deserve the bare minimum, and following HIPAA creates a standard by which you can honestly say you have upheld the obligation of your certification. If you take notes, do health histories, or do any type of written assessments, then you need to maintain the confidentiality of those records. Following HIPAA guidelines, while at times inconvenient, assures you have upheld the standards necessary to protect your clients and your legal interests.
