I put myself in treatment to get off Oxycontin.
My question is, can the treatment center tell my family Doctor that I was in there?
Don't I have to sign a release form before they can do that? I signed a release form with a bunch of Doctors on there that I never heard of, but my Doctors name was not on this form.
Just curious as to who they can tell without my permission.
CRAZE

CRAZE,
Mabe I can help you now. I work for a local hospital here and have been for years. There are laws in effect in reference to patient confidentiality. There is a law/regulation here is a little information on it
Brief HIPAA Background
The U.S. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in August 1996. HIPAA was enacted to improve healthcare delivery and to protect the privacy and security of patient health information. Six years since its enactment, all healthcare entities-from physician's offices to medical claims clearinghouses-that deal with patient health information are facing HIPAA's implementation requirements. HIPAA will necessitate sweeping changes in most healthcare transaction and administrative information systems
You have the decision as to who you want to know what. When a Pt calls me on the phone I have to make sure its actually the pt and not someone else by verifying the date of service, pts social securtity number and date of birth, and address. Now, granted wifes call for husbands and visa versa but I have to obtain written permission from the pt to discuss anything with the non-patient caller.
I hope I helped you. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Mariliyn

Craze . . . why wouldn't you want your family doctor to know about you being in treatment? He can't help you after you leave treatment if he doesn't know what's going on. In fact he could prescribe something that could hurt your recovery. Just something to think about. Good luck to you!

Originally posted by Hopefortoday:
Craze . . . why wouldn't you want your family doctor to know about you being in treatment? He can't help you after you leave treatment if he doesn't know what's going on. In fact he could prescribe something that could hurt your recovery. Just something to think about. Good luck to you!

That was my first thought upon reading this post. It sounds like you don't want your prescribing dr to know what's going on be cause you want to keep that avenue open. I did that for a while but today I decided no more. I called him and told him exactly what's been going on.....how I sometimes take 20 Norco's a day. Tomorrow I see him and we are going to work on getting me off these pills. We are going to taper, but instead of giving me the pills all at once, he will call the amount in each morning. And he will prescribe other medications to help ease the discomfort. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted of my shoulders....I feel like finally there is a plan for my recovery and I can stop worrying where I will get my next pill. Try calling your dr, you may be surprised. good luck to you.

iris


[This message has been edited by purpleiris (edited 05-12-2003).]

I guess you can't kid a kidder, can you.
You are both absolutly right. After all I have been through to get strait, I still have this stupid idea that I might want to use again in the future. You know what they say, "relapse starts with a thought".
On my next visit I will have to be honest with my Doc. If I am not, then I know it will catch up with me down the road and I will be right back where I was before.
God help me, but if I knew I would have an endless suppy of Oxycontin I would not even try to get off them.
I have a lot of work to do on myself. Need to find more NA meeting. Once a week just is not enough.
Thanks for helping me see what I need to do. And thank you Tomsgirl, for the information.
CRAZE

Good for you Craze! Just another thought, if you like NA and are committed to going, don't limit yourself to just NA. AA meetings will help too . . . same disease and a lot more years of recovery at most AA meetings. Good luck to you! My husband's drug of choice was Oxycontin too and I know how hard it is to stay off of it!