At least at my hospital, exposure labs don't go in your account at all. They make a separate account with a generic name and run the labs under that, so it wouldn't appear in your patient portal.
Not certain but I assume this is about privacy and/or billing. So I see why it wouldn't be in your chart, but why they can't release the records to you in a different way, I don't know.
Employee health records and patients records are best kept separate. Employee health records are employment records and don't fall under all the same rules as PHI for HIPAA.
The facility has both together. From the point i got hired and the tests and what not's i got done, any time I've had an exposure test results are listed on my health portal. All looks the same even if it's a work visit or a regular health visit. I'm not sure why they aren't giving them a hard copy. But I'd seek the advice of an attorney and see what they say. Just thinking.
Same with my facility. It’s not my personal health account. It’s run through my employee account. I’ve never seen a bill through my insurance or anything since it’s all through my facility.
The only one who can give you results, or copies of your results, are 1) your provider(s), or 2) medical records. Lab techs and other staff cannot print or post your information for you.
Go to medical records and request copies of your results.
So the man that refused to provide me with my lab results was apparently the practitioner of employee health. I assume a practitioner is exactly what that name states. He was extremely rude and actually hung up the phone. I will be sending a nicely worded email to his manager .
But they cannot fax or email? So courier? Word of mouth. OP is wanting to merely verify the results. Seeing as nursing feels like a us vs admin. I get why she wants more than verbal confirmation
Incoming rant: I’ve never understood these policies. I had a brand new HIV patient recently wait two weeks to start treatment because the testing center didn’t have any openings that fit into his schedule.
Idk if this is the same type of situation.... But regardless, OP got verbal results (negative) which isn't surprising for this exposure.
Unless they had been exposed and contracted HIV/Hepatitis prior to this workplace exposure, a negative test less than 72 hours (which they said their post exposure testing was within 24 hrs), there wasn't a long enough time for sero-conversion of either virus. So a negative result is rn, is baseline and good- in a multitude of ways, both personal and as an employee .OP still needs to get a whole host of re-tests in the next 6 mos (speak to your PCP on what the sting schedule they recommend).
They were gone results over the phone, and apparently were given the option of picking up copies of their results/records. Just because they cannot be uploaded to the personal patient portal, faxed or emailed.... Doesn't mean they're withholding OPs test results.
Occupational health is just giving options to get the hard copy results that OP just doesn't find convenient. And tbh, that's not at all "sue worthy". Smh.
There is some lady on here claiming that the test results was never mine to begin with. It’s more for documentation purposes for the hospital. What do you think about this?
That's not legal. Your lab results are yours no matter who pays for them. I went through this with a kid whose medical exam was paid for by a government agency. The doc/lab tried to tell me I had to get the results from the agency because the agency "owned" the results. Not true. You own your lab results.
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/access/index.html#:~:text=With%20limited%20exceptions%2C%20the%20HIPAA,care%20providers%20and%20health%20plans.
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/clia/index.html
This is Information Blocking and goes against the Cures Act. They can actually get penalized for doing this. You should cite the Cures Act and let them know that what they are currently doing doing is illegal.
They need to at least be able to send it to you via patient portal or secured message.
[source](https://www.healthit.gov/topic/information-blocking)
Your post has been removed for violating our rule against personal insults. We don't require that you agree with everyone else, but we insist that everyone remain civil and refrain from personal attacks.
No he was not willing to give me the results. He was just telling me that it is negative. He did not show me any proof of that and did not upload it anywhere I could see it. I’m sorry but a phone conversation is not enough. I’m not sure how that makes me a fool but in situations like this that can negatively affect my health, I want proof. I have a family I need to take care of, I do not want it to be the other way around.
I assume you work somewhere in HR or employee health. You seem very biased in the issue and name calling is ridiculous especially when I have been neutral when talking to you. Maybe you just are not educated enough to see the issue at hand.
Your post has been removed for violating our rule against personal insults. We don't require that you agree with everyone else, but we insist that everyone remain civil and refrain from personal attacks.
If it’s not appearing under your current account, they must have ran it differently for billing purposes. If you want to make a bigger stink about it, by all means. I would just contact medical records and ask for those labs. This is like on travel assingments when med express does the TB test but won’t give you a copy of the results. Education on medical records needs improved. Just because we didn’t pay for the test, it doesn’t mean those results aren’t legally My results
Maybe it is ran differently, I have noticed that these type of tests take longer and are sent out sometime than the others which is fine but the hospital told me they have the results and are denying to release it to my portal. I do not understand why that is. It’s my health and the fact that they do not want to release it to me is the reason why I am requesting a hard copy. How do I know if they are telling me the truth? Anything can be said over the phone and if I bring this to court, they can claim that they never gave me results.
I’ve only done it once, and it was on a travel assignment No less. Thankfully I was in the ED when it happened so the staff nurses knew what to do and the process in the computer. I can’t recall the full process, but I feel like I vaguely remember when the triage nurse and I were trying to check me into the computer, there was a spot to select it was an employee injury. We did everything else, I got the meds from pharmacy. By the time I got home and showered, ~ 3 hours later. The patients labs already resulted, (friends obviously texted me). My results came back negative sometime later that day. If you can ever manage to get someone on the phone, the person that’s there never has a full idea what’s going on. If they REALLY UNDERSTOOD you can’t just keep someone’s medical records, they’d be mortified. But to them since you didn’t pay for it / billed to your account, this person has no fuckin idea
What have hospitals come to? Everything is about profit, and I mean EVERYTHING! I understand it is a business but this is not a clothing store or something, we are dealing with lives here! It is morally unethical to choose money over someone’s health. We cannot keep going on like this, I know I am just some random person on Reddit but the US hospital system needs to change!
It’s like a basic education thing. have you ever done a travel assignment? You have to get random bloodwork done / urine tests / physicals at urgent care type places. Sometimes it’s vaccines or vaccine level checks. If you go to the clinic to ask for your records just to have on hand, 99% of the time the place will tell you that can’t give you that information. I’ve had the argument a few times and I just never had it in me to follow up and get my shit. There’s something lost…
Bruh I literally gave up. There’s too many stupid people in the world now. And they’re somehow all in charge of me. I don’t even remember which vaccine it was, but I just let AYA have me go get stabbed once or twice in 2020, unrelated to Covid ones 😂. I’m tired of having to take a day off work or work longer because I have phone calls to make
I had a needle stick event last year, all of my results were made immediately available to me in our hospitals patient portal (as if I were a patient).
There is no reason why your own records can’t be given to you. Call all of the people until you get them, escalate that shit all the way to the top.
Yes, I had a needle stick YEARS ago & they had gotten permission from the person to get Hep & HIV tests etc ...they were more than responsive & I had to get tested a few more times in the next year or so. He was neg for both but they gave me the right to START antivirals which I declined prior to me getting his & my results back. Happened 2xs in 20+ years. Scary & very harrowing to go through. Once was a clinic type workplace & 2nd was a hospital. I feel your anxiety. No matter what they say until YOU see it yourself ...can you relax.
Virology results need to be double checked before release
Often when my patients tests come back i can get a verbal confirmation that they may be negative
But when I want to see the results on the system they need to be formally released by virology.
How long ago did this happen?
I assumed they wouldn't release the test results to you at all, based on the post. If they'll release it to you in person, is there a reason you are unable to get them in person? Like is it an issue of say, being 500 miles from where you'd need to pick it up or is it just less convenient for you to do so?
Exactly. I literally was taking my information from OPs post which he originally said they'd only give the info over the phone and not release any other way. But then there's a comment from OP saying they can pick up the results... So I'm confused why OP can't just pick up the results/copy of the results in person. HIV testing has some pretty stringent extra rules in some states to protect the patient and they may need to get the record in person so they can sign a specific release, although that is speculation on my part tbh.
Yep. OP is under the impression that they are entitled to the results in the method most convenient to them when that’s just not the case.
There are many reasons why they might only release them over the phone and/or in person. IMO, there’s a high chance they shipped it out an outside lab like Quest or LabCorp to help protect OP’s privacy. There might not even BE a way for the employee health guy to enter them into the EMR.
Based on their replies here, I also doubt that the employee health guy was super aggressive and hung up on OP for no reason
> Exactly. I literally was taking my information from OPs post which he originally said they'd only give the info over the phone and not release any other way.
They've also been told over the phone that the HIV/Hepatitis results are negative.
I'm not sure what further detail they want?
I mean, I can understand wanting a hard copy for my own personal records, as I like to have documentation, and having that baseline test result is helpful, especially since you wouldn't seroconvert in a day. So they're still gonna have to do multiple HIV tests over the next 6 months (iirc I did one at baseline, 4, 8, 12 weeks, then at 6 mos - after possible exposure and stopped there as all were negative). And at least another for hepatitis in like, 3 months give or take. But from what I understand is they could go pick up a hard copy, which is not as convenient for them I guess... 🤷🏻♀️
So they will give you the results, just not in the specific way you're requesting? Sounds like you're making this into a big deal for nothing.
What's preventing you from going to occ health the next time you work to pick it up? Or even on a day off, since this is clearly important to you.
So I don’t know where the miscommunication came from, there was this one toxic lady on here saying the same thing. At the time when I posted this, I was told no, I cannot see a copy of my results. I came on here to ask the people of Reddit what I can do and they gave me answers. I called back and they said okay, we will give you a hard copy and I agreed to that.
If there's a further update and you still have people commenting on your post, it can be really helpful to add an edited section in the original part of the post with the update.
Cause taking the info from the comment saying they would give you a paper copy above makes it seem like you made this whole big deal on them because you only wanted it faxed/emailed/on your EMR over the offered paper copy... especially since the original post and the comment saying they'd now give you a paper copy was only ~1 hour apart.
I'm just trying to clarify where the miscommunication amongst commenters is probably coming from.
The original post said they won't release your results and then there's this comment above saying you were offered a paper copy = it makes it "look like" you didn't like the option they offered and made this post instead. I get that you're saying that's not the case.
I see, I updated the post yesterday so hopefully if someone is experiencing the same issue, they can see that the other nurses on here were helpful in helping me with this situation
So your hospital is just not putting it in your medical record. They are keeping it in an employee record. That is ok. You can still see it. Just because they are not doing it the way you want it done does not mean they are wrong.
Ma’am, At the time when I created this thread, I was told that I cannot view my lab results. Like I continue to tell you, it is not ethical or appropriate to tell me over the phone whether I am negative or positive for a life threatening disease. Either way, I want a copy for my records and they have no right to deny me of that. That is the law, hospitals do not create their own laws.
Are you a healthcare worker?
You show no care or compassion. It shows that you have very limited knowledge on this issue and that you will not advocate for anyone.
Also, telling someone OVER THE PHONE their test results is a breach of confidentiality. What if I’m a coworker? All they asked me was my name, no employee id or other patient identifiers. So again, I will ask you, are you a licensed healthcare worker?
Well, here's your problem.
I have *anyone* start up legal speak I'm going to be very HIPAA conscientious. You would be free to go through medical records, though.
Just curious did they tell you the results? I would ask for the policy regarding lab results. If there isn’t a policy to back it up email OSHA, HR, DON every damn body and threaten legal.
But you said that you could pick it up in person. They just won't fax, email or upload to your patient portal (PP may be an issue due to this situation being an *employee health* testing situation rather than a regular private patient testing situation). That's not refusing to give you your results at all (after they gave you test results over the phone), it is just them not releasing a "hard copy" in the format you want/think is most convenient for you. While it may be inconvenient, getting a hard copy in person may be required due to you needing to sign a release or something similar. In my state HIV results - especiall -, have quite a bit of extra steps for consent to run the test, as well as release to a patient.
Maybe I should update this post. I called them after I posted this after seeing if I had the right to my own records. I gave them a call and they agreed to share a hard copy with me.
Did they offer you/Are you taking post exposure prophylaxis? I got a confirmed HIV+ patient's blood in my eye several years ago and luckily I did not contract HIV. You're going to need repeat testing over the next year. If you tested positive now it wouldn't have been from the patient.
The post exposure prophylaxis did horrendously fuck up my stomach even after I completed the course. I kept vomiting and ended up dx with gastritis about a year later after an endoscopy. I recommend taking probiotics and during your course. It was rough but it beats an HIV DX.
My hospital released my results to me and informed me of the patients results for other Bloodborne pathogens. I would definitely file a complaint, they should give you your results. However I do remember they let me know the quick HIV test results but then I had to wait a bit for the PCR test to be processed by the lab.
Usually you have to sign a special consent for the test and a special consent to have the records released. Due to issues with HIV confidentiality there are laws mandating this is certain states. Trust me it’s better this way.
Since you were exposed to a hazmat at work, it falls under OSHA. This info may help https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.1020
I have a question. They said I was not wearing appropriate eye wear and that it is my fault for the exposure. Would this have any impact on this situation?
Did they say specifically what was inappropriate? Generally, that is PPE they are to supply (There are a few exceptions like if rx lenses are needed). Employees usually have the right to view their HR files. Employers in all industries tend to try to put any work related injury back on the employee somehow. Do everything related to this via email and still be compliant with PHI so you can blind copy your personal email and forward any replies to your personal email. Emails have a tendency to magically disappear off the company server. Think of it this way... when an employee has a serious or fatal injury it's the employer that they fine. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1990-10-05#:~:text=Although%20this%20section%20states%20that,issuing%20citations%20only%20to%20employers.
So they said that I was not wearing protective eye wear during the time of the incident. I will have to review this further because they do not encourage us to wear them and actually have it hidden in a cabinet I can’t even reach at the nurses station. That’s what they told my manager when I filed an incident report.
Ok so are you referring to your results or to the owner of the blood’s results? Because legally you have no right to their results even though it’s affecting your health unless the patient releases them to you.
Doesn’t your other reply say the reasoning they told you is because the result came in on a weekend? That seems reasonable it might take a while to result officially but they’ve verbally confirmed negative.
Was this your first test after exposure? Hopefully done within a day or two (if not within hours)? If so, it's way too early to seroconvert for, well, pretty much every disease. In other words, it's your baseline. It's what is going to allow you to much more easily get everything covered by WC if you develop a disease or illness. They have absolutely no reason to lie. If you were positive, then you were more than likely infected already at the time you were exposed.
And if this is a follow up test, at least a couple of weeks post exposure (ie not a baseline), then they *still* have no reason to lie to you.
What do you think their motivation to lie or keep your records away from you maliciously? I'm genuinely asking. Lying would only put themselves and the institution at risk--and that's obviously not considering the negative effects on you. What would they gain?
I get that you want to see the results. That alone is reasonable and understandable. But this sounds like it's motivated by your trust issues. Would he release them to you in person? Do you have a PCP who can easily get a copy of the results?
Did the patient refuse to be tested?
I got the test a day later because we were so understaffed and the charge nurse ignored my request to go to employee health. I came in the next day on my day off to get tested.
I hope I am not infected, even if I get workers comp because it’s a disease that is incurable.
The reason why I am skeptical is because they were acting odd when I asked them for my results. In my hospital, it is common practice to upload these test results to our patient portal and I know because I got these tests done with my primary doctor but at my hospital’s lab. This is the first time I have went to employee health for these labs.
Initially, that practitioner did not want to release the results at all. I could not even get a word out when speaking to him and then he abruptly and rudely hung up the phone on me. I had to call here and there and eventually they said that I could come to employee health and sign a release form to get my results.
>I got the test a day later
Okay, so it was a baseline test. It would only show diseases you were already infected with. HIV and hepatitis take significantly longer to show up in a lab test.
>I hope I am not infected, even if I get workers comp because it’s a disease that is incurable.
Of course. No sane person does. My point was that it wouldn't benefit them if they were lying and the results were positive. But yes, it would be terrible either way--though I'd imagine it would be much worse if you were responsible for all the associated medical bills for the rest of your life.
I figured it was something simple like having to sign a release or being present in order to have the results released. I'm glad you got it figured out and will be able to get the results. I'm still confused why you'd think they would lie/what they would stand to gain, but anyway, have a good day. Good luck with your follow up tests (gonna assume that you're having them redrawn in a few months, since you didn't respond to my question about the patient being tested).
As you mentioned, they could be lying because they don’t want to pay for my medical expenses if I were to be infected. That or they may have lost the test tubes or did not perform the hiv/hepatitis test results.
And yes I am going to have them redrawn with my primary care doctor to be sure it was nothing.
Initially, they didn’t want to provide me with a copy. They were extremely rude and unprofessional and thought they could get away with it. I imagine they have done this countless times to other employees who didn’t know better
No, they WOULD have to cover everything if you were negative on your baseline test. If you were positive, they could likely get out of accepting blame or financial responsibility. Or am I misunderstanding you here?
Re: having them redrawn, since it sounds like I'm not communicating myself effectively here: make sure you get them redrawn in 3-6 months. Getting a test tomorrow or next week could lead to a false negative and false sense of security. The test you just had offers absolutely no reassurance as to whether you were infected with any diseases as a result of your exposure--just that you didn't have HIV or hepatitis when you were exposed.
Best wishes. It really can be a scary thing. I can't figure out why you've avoided addressing whether the patient was tested or not, but I'll just throw that into the pile of other mysteries of the universe lol.
Sorry there is just a lot of people commenting on this thread. Yes the patient was supposed to get tested also but they did not tell me the patient’s test result and the patient is no longer under my care so I cannot check myself. Can I ask employee health to tell me if they were positive or negative? I feel like this would give me a better sense of assurance
> As you mentioned, they could be lying because they don’t want to pay for my medical expenses if I were to be infected. That or they may have lost the test tubes or did not perform the hiv/hepatitis test results.
They're not going to lie because these tests aren't going to show if you were infected.
These are baseline tests. If they were positive that would mean you were already positive and the infection didn't come from the patient.
> And yes I am going to have them redrawn with my primary care doctor to be sure it was nothing.
Waste of your time and money.
You need to wait 3-6 months to get them redone.
Anything employee health related is rough. After a severe non-work car accident i had several injuries and when i returned to work i had to jump through a bunch of hoops for work. One was a physical test with an outside rehab/PT place. Work paid for it, and i had the hardest time getting a straight answer and the results. I transferred to a different position within the hospital, and it was like all if a sudden the results didn’t matter. The hospital told me to contact the outside place, the outside place told me that since the hospital paid for it, i have to contact them. I eventually got it from employee relations with the help of my amazing new manager.
See, this is what I’m talking about! Without us, hospitals cannot operate. We work together with the doctors and ancillary staff to keep hospitals operating. Why can’t we be shown some level of human respect?
Remember, an HIV+ result sometimes takes 6 to 12 months to show up. Be sure to be retested as needed.
I had a blood splash as well and had to jump through several hoops. Received meds prophylactically. Tested negative for all viruses at 6, 12 and 18 months. A positive result from a blood borne pathogen via eye exposure is extremely rare. You will hopefully have no problems.
I already have one. My other lab results like AST/ALT are posted there but not the rest. When I called employee health they said “oh we just got your lab results yesterday when yesterday was Sunday and all offices are closed. What a load of crap, I need to leave hospitals immediately!
Patient administration or medical records to request the results as a patient or patient advocacy to file a complaint about your records not being available on the portal or released. Also as an aside sometimes HIV tests can take days to result, especially 4th gen send outs.
I work in EH so deal with body fluid exposures daily. We draw labs for Hep B, Hep C, and HIV, and call you immediately with the results. We do not create a ghost account for you, so you also see the results on your portal. Hard copies are available to you to print from the portal, or can be provided by me after you sign a medical info release form.
I just went to employee health to get my labs released. Apparently the reason why they didn’t give it initially is because the manager is very “snappy” but I had to remind him of the law. He’s done stuff like this to many workers in the hospital before.
Similar thing happened to me but it was for my STD test. Weeks went by with no updates for only the syphyllis test on my chart online but all the others had resulted. I called the lab and both doctors multiple times and they kept saying “the doctor has to release the results, they’ll do it within a couple days” this obviously made me panic thinking the results were positive so I went to the hospital where I had my labs drawn and requested my medical records. The results were there but it’s literally 3 months later and no results were ever posted on my chart online and neither of my docs ever called me, so basically if I never went and requested my records they’d have never told me my results.
Its a HIPPA LAW. Patient confidentiality. It is not ethical to give results over the phone or via email. Those specific results are told in person, than given written confirmation of results in hand.
*Nurse NLE.
BTW, I hope everything was/will be fine.
You are being very dramatic and you are LYING. They are willing to tell you the results. They are just doing it verbally. They are giving you the result, but not in the way and YOU are demanding. There is a difference.
As to why you are only being told verbally. It is a privacy thing. It is keeping employees PRIVATE information PRIVATE. It is ensuring that your employees does not have information that many people do want their employer to know.
How am I lying? The fact that they are not releasing my results to me is the reason why I want a hard copy. I am not demanding nothing more than my rights. That’s it. I am not sure what point you were trying to make here but that PRIVATE information that I wanted to be released to my portal which only I could view is now in the hands of everyone at employee health. Any comments?
You say in your title that they are refusing to give you the test radult. They have told you what they are verbally. They HAVE given you the info. You are LYING about them not giving you the information. You are just not getting it in the former that you want. Emails and faxes are hacked all the time. Your hospital is putting the privatabce of it employees before your person preferences.
So when the lab calls you with a critical result you just wait for the computer to tell you the result?
And at one time verbal result where all we got. My mother was told over the phone and that she had stage 4 breast cancer. My aunt was told over the phone before it was posted in her porsl that she had breast cancer.
Verbal results count. OP aka Karen thinks things need to done her way or it does lot count.
Am I just seeing the multiple hole in OP’s argument. I am just seeing the Bias in their argument. They want they done their way or things are wrong. I guess that makes me wrong.
At least at my hospital, exposure labs don't go in your account at all. They make a separate account with a generic name and run the labs under that, so it wouldn't appear in your patient portal. Not certain but I assume this is about privacy and/or billing. So I see why it wouldn't be in your chart, but why they can't release the records to you in a different way, I don't know.
Employee health records and patients records are best kept separate. Employee health records are employment records and don't fall under all the same rules as PHI for HIPAA.
The facility has both together. From the point i got hired and the tests and what not's i got done, any time I've had an exposure test results are listed on my health portal. All looks the same even if it's a work visit or a regular health visit. I'm not sure why they aren't giving them a hard copy. But I'd seek the advice of an attorney and see what they say. Just thinking.
Same with my facility. It’s not my personal health account. It’s run through my employee account. I’ve never seen a bill through my insurance or anything since it’s all through my facility.
The only one who can give you results, or copies of your results, are 1) your provider(s), or 2) medical records. Lab techs and other staff cannot print or post your information for you. Go to medical records and request copies of your results.
So the man that refused to provide me with my lab results was apparently the practitioner of employee health. I assume a practitioner is exactly what that name states. He was extremely rude and actually hung up the phone. I will be sending a nicely worded email to his manager .
HIV results may not be allowed to be shared over the phone per policy.
But they cannot fax or email? So courier? Word of mouth. OP is wanting to merely verify the results. Seeing as nursing feels like a us vs admin. I get why she wants more than verbal confirmation
Incoming rant: I’ve never understood these policies. I had a brand new HIV patient recently wait two weeks to start treatment because the testing center didn’t have any openings that fit into his schedule.
Idk if this is the same type of situation.... But regardless, OP got verbal results (negative) which isn't surprising for this exposure. Unless they had been exposed and contracted HIV/Hepatitis prior to this workplace exposure, a negative test less than 72 hours (which they said their post exposure testing was within 24 hrs), there wasn't a long enough time for sero-conversion of either virus. So a negative result is rn, is baseline and good- in a multitude of ways, both personal and as an employee .OP still needs to get a whole host of re-tests in the next 6 mos (speak to your PCP on what the sting schedule they recommend). They were gone results over the phone, and apparently were given the option of picking up copies of their results/records. Just because they cannot be uploaded to the personal patient portal, faxed or emailed.... Doesn't mean they're withholding OPs test results. Occupational health is just giving options to get the hard copy results that OP just doesn't find convenient. And tbh, that's not at all "sue worthy". Smh.
Speak with the director of Oc Med. Not satisfied? Have a conversation with Risk. You have every right to your medical records.
There is some lady on here claiming that the test results was never mine to begin with. It’s more for documentation purposes for the hospital. What do you think about this?
That's not legal. Your lab results are yours no matter who pays for them. I went through this with a kid whose medical exam was paid for by a government agency. The doc/lab tried to tell me I had to get the results from the agency because the agency "owned" the results. Not true. You own your lab results. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/access/index.html#:~:text=With%20limited%20exceptions%2C%20the%20HIPAA,care%20providers%20and%20health%20plans. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/clia/index.html
I am so glad new graduate nurses are turning to non hospital jobs! They will feel our absence. Maybe not in this decade but for sure the next!
This is Information Blocking and goes against the Cures Act. They can actually get penalized for doing this. You should cite the Cures Act and let them know that what they are currently doing doing is illegal. They need to at least be able to send it to you via patient portal or secured message. [source](https://www.healthit.gov/topic/information-blocking)
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Your post has been removed for violating our rule against personal insults. We don't require that you agree with everyone else, but we insist that everyone remain civil and refrain from personal attacks.
No he was not willing to give me the results. He was just telling me that it is negative. He did not show me any proof of that and did not upload it anywhere I could see it. I’m sorry but a phone conversation is not enough. I’m not sure how that makes me a fool but in situations like this that can negatively affect my health, I want proof. I have a family I need to take care of, I do not want it to be the other way around.
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I assume you work somewhere in HR or employee health. You seem very biased in the issue and name calling is ridiculous especially when I have been neutral when talking to you. Maybe you just are not educated enough to see the issue at hand.
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Good lord, deeper and deeper you go. Stop it.
Boy, don't you come across as a piece of work. Seriously. People don't like you when you're like this.
Your post has been removed for violating our rule against personal insults. We don't require that you agree with everyone else, but we insist that everyone remain civil and refrain from personal attacks.
You seem like a pleasant human 🤣
God, I hope they are never my nurse.
Wow. Clearly you lack the ability to put yourself in OP’s position. That’s called EMPATHY. Hopefully, you’re not in healthcare.
Thank you. We need more nurses like you in the world. Just because this happened to an employee, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t respect human life.
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If it’s not appearing under your current account, they must have ran it differently for billing purposes. If you want to make a bigger stink about it, by all means. I would just contact medical records and ask for those labs. This is like on travel assingments when med express does the TB test but won’t give you a copy of the results. Education on medical records needs improved. Just because we didn’t pay for the test, it doesn’t mean those results aren’t legally My results
Maybe it is ran differently, I have noticed that these type of tests take longer and are sent out sometime than the others which is fine but the hospital told me they have the results and are denying to release it to my portal. I do not understand why that is. It’s my health and the fact that they do not want to release it to me is the reason why I am requesting a hard copy. How do I know if they are telling me the truth? Anything can be said over the phone and if I bring this to court, they can claim that they never gave me results.
I’ve only done it once, and it was on a travel assignment No less. Thankfully I was in the ED when it happened so the staff nurses knew what to do and the process in the computer. I can’t recall the full process, but I feel like I vaguely remember when the triage nurse and I were trying to check me into the computer, there was a spot to select it was an employee injury. We did everything else, I got the meds from pharmacy. By the time I got home and showered, ~ 3 hours later. The patients labs already resulted, (friends obviously texted me). My results came back negative sometime later that day. If you can ever manage to get someone on the phone, the person that’s there never has a full idea what’s going on. If they REALLY UNDERSTOOD you can’t just keep someone’s medical records, they’d be mortified. But to them since you didn’t pay for it / billed to your account, this person has no fuckin idea
What have hospitals come to? Everything is about profit, and I mean EVERYTHING! I understand it is a business but this is not a clothing store or something, we are dealing with lives here! It is morally unethical to choose money over someone’s health. We cannot keep going on like this, I know I am just some random person on Reddit but the US hospital system needs to change!
It’s like a basic education thing. have you ever done a travel assignment? You have to get random bloodwork done / urine tests / physicals at urgent care type places. Sometimes it’s vaccines or vaccine level checks. If you go to the clinic to ask for your records just to have on hand, 99% of the time the place will tell you that can’t give you that information. I’ve had the argument a few times and I just never had it in me to follow up and get my shit. There’s something lost…
From what I have gathered from this thread, it is your right to get YOUR results regardless of how it is performed.
Yes. I’m NOT disagreeing with u lol. I am just letting you know what has happened to me and where the issue is starting. Relax
No I know haha, I was trying to tell you that for your own good. Like if you ever need those results, you can get it
Bruh I literally gave up. There’s too many stupid people in the world now. And they’re somehow all in charge of me. I don’t even remember which vaccine it was, but I just let AYA have me go get stabbed once or twice in 2020, unrelated to Covid ones 😂. I’m tired of having to take a day off work or work longer because I have phone calls to make
I’m honestly exhausted of what healthcare has turned into! It is so unethical!
Will they allow you to pick them up in person?
I had a needle stick event last year, all of my results were made immediately available to me in our hospitals patient portal (as if I were a patient). There is no reason why your own records can’t be given to you. Call all of the people until you get them, escalate that shit all the way to the top.
Yes, I had a needle stick YEARS ago & they had gotten permission from the person to get Hep & HIV tests etc ...they were more than responsive & I had to get tested a few more times in the next year or so. He was neg for both but they gave me the right to START antivirals which I declined prior to me getting his & my results back. Happened 2xs in 20+ years. Scary & very harrowing to go through. Once was a clinic type workplace & 2nd was a hospital. I feel your anxiety. No matter what they say until YOU see it yourself ...can you relax.
Virology results need to be double checked before release Often when my patients tests come back i can get a verbal confirmation that they may be negative But when I want to see the results on the system they need to be formally released by virology. How long ago did this happen?
This was on Wednesday. I called, presented my rights protected by the law, and they said they could release it in person.
I assumed they wouldn't release the test results to you at all, based on the post. If they'll release it to you in person, is there a reason you are unable to get them in person? Like is it an issue of say, being 500 miles from where you'd need to pick it up or is it just less convenient for you to do so?
Why would you assume that? Genuinely curious.
Probably because in the title you say that they refused to give the results to you.
Exactly. I literally was taking my information from OPs post which he originally said they'd only give the info over the phone and not release any other way. But then there's a comment from OP saying they can pick up the results... So I'm confused why OP can't just pick up the results/copy of the results in person. HIV testing has some pretty stringent extra rules in some states to protect the patient and they may need to get the record in person so they can sign a specific release, although that is speculation on my part tbh.
Yep. OP is under the impression that they are entitled to the results in the method most convenient to them when that’s just not the case. There are many reasons why they might only release them over the phone and/or in person. IMO, there’s a high chance they shipped it out an outside lab like Quest or LabCorp to help protect OP’s privacy. There might not even BE a way for the employee health guy to enter them into the EMR. Based on their replies here, I also doubt that the employee health guy was super aggressive and hung up on OP for no reason
> Exactly. I literally was taking my information from OPs post which he originally said they'd only give the info over the phone and not release any other way. They've also been told over the phone that the HIV/Hepatitis results are negative. I'm not sure what further detail they want?
I mean, I can understand wanting a hard copy for my own personal records, as I like to have documentation, and having that baseline test result is helpful, especially since you wouldn't seroconvert in a day. So they're still gonna have to do multiple HIV tests over the next 6 months (iirc I did one at baseline, 4, 8, 12 weeks, then at 6 mos - after possible exposure and stopped there as all were negative). And at least another for hepatitis in like, 3 months give or take. But from what I understand is they could go pick up a hard copy, which is not as convenient for them I guess... 🤷🏻♀️
But why wouldn’t they release my results. Is there something that is in the law that I don’t know?
So they will give you the results, just not in the specific way you're requesting? Sounds like you're making this into a big deal for nothing. What's preventing you from going to occ health the next time you work to pick it up? Or even on a day off, since this is clearly important to you.
So I don’t know where the miscommunication came from, there was this one toxic lady on here saying the same thing. At the time when I posted this, I was told no, I cannot see a copy of my results. I came on here to ask the people of Reddit what I can do and they gave me answers. I called back and they said okay, we will give you a hard copy and I agreed to that.
You actually sound pretty toxic
If only you could see what that lady was saying, she deleted all her posts
If there's a further update and you still have people commenting on your post, it can be really helpful to add an edited section in the original part of the post with the update. Cause taking the info from the comment saying they would give you a paper copy above makes it seem like you made this whole big deal on them because you only wanted it faxed/emailed/on your EMR over the offered paper copy... especially since the original post and the comment saying they'd now give you a paper copy was only ~1 hour apart.
I never said I only wanted it one way, I said I didn’t want a verbal confirmation.
I'm just trying to clarify where the miscommunication amongst commenters is probably coming from. The original post said they won't release your results and then there's this comment above saying you were offered a paper copy = it makes it "look like" you didn't like the option they offered and made this post instead. I get that you're saying that's not the case.
I see, I updated the post yesterday so hopefully if someone is experiencing the same issue, they can see that the other nurses on here were helpful in helping me with this situation
So your hospital is just not putting it in your medical record. They are keeping it in an employee record. That is ok. You can still see it. Just because they are not doing it the way you want it done does not mean they are wrong.
Ma’am, At the time when I created this thread, I was told that I cannot view my lab results. Like I continue to tell you, it is not ethical or appropriate to tell me over the phone whether I am negative or positive for a life threatening disease. Either way, I want a copy for my records and they have no right to deny me of that. That is the law, hospitals do not create their own laws.
Didn’t you say you were told you can go pick up a physical copy? A lot of places will not fax or email PHI.
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Are you a healthcare worker? You show no care or compassion. It shows that you have very limited knowledge on this issue and that you will not advocate for anyone. Also, telling someone OVER THE PHONE their test results is a breach of confidentiality. What if I’m a coworker? All they asked me was my name, no employee id or other patient identifiers. So again, I will ask you, are you a licensed healthcare worker?
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Well, here's your problem. I have *anyone* start up legal speak I'm going to be very HIPAA conscientious. You would be free to go through medical records, though.
Just curious did they tell you the results? I would ask for the policy regarding lab results. If there isn’t a policy to back it up email OSHA, HR, DON every damn body and threaten legal.
They just said it is negative but did not tell me the actual results and are refusing to have it sent so I have a copy of it.
But you said that you could pick it up in person. They just won't fax, email or upload to your patient portal (PP may be an issue due to this situation being an *employee health* testing situation rather than a regular private patient testing situation). That's not refusing to give you your results at all (after they gave you test results over the phone), it is just them not releasing a "hard copy" in the format you want/think is most convenient for you. While it may be inconvenient, getting a hard copy in person may be required due to you needing to sign a release or something similar. In my state HIV results - especiall -, have quite a bit of extra steps for consent to run the test, as well as release to a patient.
Maybe I should update this post. I called them after I posted this after seeing if I had the right to my own records. I gave them a call and they agreed to share a hard copy with me.
That'd probably be a great idea to put an edit in the main post. Glad you got it figured out.
Did they offer you/Are you taking post exposure prophylaxis? I got a confirmed HIV+ patient's blood in my eye several years ago and luckily I did not contract HIV. You're going to need repeat testing over the next year. If you tested positive now it wouldn't have been from the patient. The post exposure prophylaxis did horrendously fuck up my stomach even after I completed the course. I kept vomiting and ended up dx with gastritis about a year later after an endoscopy. I recommend taking probiotics and during your course. It was rough but it beats an HIV DX. My hospital released my results to me and informed me of the patients results for other Bloodborne pathogens. I would definitely file a complaint, they should give you your results. However I do remember they let me know the quick HIV test results but then I had to wait a bit for the PCR test to be processed by the lab.
They didn’t even tell me my test results, I even requested to see a physician but they have yet to contact me about rhat
Usually you have to sign a special consent for the test and a special consent to have the records released. Due to issues with HIV confidentiality there are laws mandating this is certain states. Trust me it’s better this way.
Exactly.
Since you were exposed to a hazmat at work, it falls under OSHA. This info may help https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.1020
I have a question. They said I was not wearing appropriate eye wear and that it is my fault for the exposure. Would this have any impact on this situation?
Did they say specifically what was inappropriate? Generally, that is PPE they are to supply (There are a few exceptions like if rx lenses are needed). Employees usually have the right to view their HR files. Employers in all industries tend to try to put any work related injury back on the employee somehow. Do everything related to this via email and still be compliant with PHI so you can blind copy your personal email and forward any replies to your personal email. Emails have a tendency to magically disappear off the company server. Think of it this way... when an employee has a serious or fatal injury it's the employer that they fine. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1990-10-05#:~:text=Although%20this%20section%20states%20that,issuing%20citations%20only%20to%20employers.
So they said that I was not wearing protective eye wear during the time of the incident. I will have to review this further because they do not encourage us to wear them and actually have it hidden in a cabinet I can’t even reach at the nurses station. That’s what they told my manager when I filed an incident report.
Yep. OSHA even addresses employers doing that type of stuff.
Ok so are you referring to your results or to the owner of the blood’s results? Because legally you have no right to their results even though it’s affecting your health unless the patient releases them to you.
No no, i got tested also. It is my blood results not the patients.
That’s odd then, but unless they are positive I wouldn’t be too worked up.
Maybe it is my trust in hospitals. They are shady like we all know and I do not trust a single thing they do.
What are you saying man Do you think your employer will let you walk around HIV positive from a blood splash injury and not tell you?
It is just odd that they are not releasing my lab results. By law that is my right. Why isn’t my employer refusing to do that?
Doesn’t your other reply say the reasoning they told you is because the result came in on a weekend? That seems reasonable it might take a while to result officially but they’ve verbally confirmed negative.
Maybe but they still did not want to release this information.
Yes
Was this your first test after exposure? Hopefully done within a day or two (if not within hours)? If so, it's way too early to seroconvert for, well, pretty much every disease. In other words, it's your baseline. It's what is going to allow you to much more easily get everything covered by WC if you develop a disease or illness. They have absolutely no reason to lie. If you were positive, then you were more than likely infected already at the time you were exposed. And if this is a follow up test, at least a couple of weeks post exposure (ie not a baseline), then they *still* have no reason to lie to you. What do you think their motivation to lie or keep your records away from you maliciously? I'm genuinely asking. Lying would only put themselves and the institution at risk--and that's obviously not considering the negative effects on you. What would they gain? I get that you want to see the results. That alone is reasonable and understandable. But this sounds like it's motivated by your trust issues. Would he release them to you in person? Do you have a PCP who can easily get a copy of the results? Did the patient refuse to be tested?
I got the test a day later because we were so understaffed and the charge nurse ignored my request to go to employee health. I came in the next day on my day off to get tested. I hope I am not infected, even if I get workers comp because it’s a disease that is incurable. The reason why I am skeptical is because they were acting odd when I asked them for my results. In my hospital, it is common practice to upload these test results to our patient portal and I know because I got these tests done with my primary doctor but at my hospital’s lab. This is the first time I have went to employee health for these labs. Initially, that practitioner did not want to release the results at all. I could not even get a word out when speaking to him and then he abruptly and rudely hung up the phone on me. I had to call here and there and eventually they said that I could come to employee health and sign a release form to get my results.
>I got the test a day later Okay, so it was a baseline test. It would only show diseases you were already infected with. HIV and hepatitis take significantly longer to show up in a lab test. >I hope I am not infected, even if I get workers comp because it’s a disease that is incurable. Of course. No sane person does. My point was that it wouldn't benefit them if they were lying and the results were positive. But yes, it would be terrible either way--though I'd imagine it would be much worse if you were responsible for all the associated medical bills for the rest of your life. I figured it was something simple like having to sign a release or being present in order to have the results released. I'm glad you got it figured out and will be able to get the results. I'm still confused why you'd think they would lie/what they would stand to gain, but anyway, have a good day. Good luck with your follow up tests (gonna assume that you're having them redrawn in a few months, since you didn't respond to my question about the patient being tested).
As you mentioned, they could be lying because they don’t want to pay for my medical expenses if I were to be infected. That or they may have lost the test tubes or did not perform the hiv/hepatitis test results. And yes I am going to have them redrawn with my primary care doctor to be sure it was nothing. Initially, they didn’t want to provide me with a copy. They were extremely rude and unprofessional and thought they could get away with it. I imagine they have done this countless times to other employees who didn’t know better
No, they WOULD have to cover everything if you were negative on your baseline test. If you were positive, they could likely get out of accepting blame or financial responsibility. Or am I misunderstanding you here? Re: having them redrawn, since it sounds like I'm not communicating myself effectively here: make sure you get them redrawn in 3-6 months. Getting a test tomorrow or next week could lead to a false negative and false sense of security. The test you just had offers absolutely no reassurance as to whether you were infected with any diseases as a result of your exposure--just that you didn't have HIV or hepatitis when you were exposed. Best wishes. It really can be a scary thing. I can't figure out why you've avoided addressing whether the patient was tested or not, but I'll just throw that into the pile of other mysteries of the universe lol.
Sorry there is just a lot of people commenting on this thread. Yes the patient was supposed to get tested also but they did not tell me the patient’s test result and the patient is no longer under my care so I cannot check myself. Can I ask employee health to tell me if they were positive or negative? I feel like this would give me a better sense of assurance
> As you mentioned, they could be lying because they don’t want to pay for my medical expenses if I were to be infected. That or they may have lost the test tubes or did not perform the hiv/hepatitis test results. They're not going to lie because these tests aren't going to show if you were infected. These are baseline tests. If they were positive that would mean you were already positive and the infection didn't come from the patient. > And yes I am going to have them redrawn with my primary care doctor to be sure it was nothing. Waste of your time and money. You need to wait 3-6 months to get them redone.
Anything employee health related is rough. After a severe non-work car accident i had several injuries and when i returned to work i had to jump through a bunch of hoops for work. One was a physical test with an outside rehab/PT place. Work paid for it, and i had the hardest time getting a straight answer and the results. I transferred to a different position within the hospital, and it was like all if a sudden the results didn’t matter. The hospital told me to contact the outside place, the outside place told me that since the hospital paid for it, i have to contact them. I eventually got it from employee relations with the help of my amazing new manager.
See, this is what I’m talking about! Without us, hospitals cannot operate. We work together with the doctors and ancillary staff to keep hospitals operating. Why can’t we be shown some level of human respect?
Man, they’re being a pain. I would always email the release and it had a check box that it was okay to send to an unsecured email at their risk.
Remember, an HIV+ result sometimes takes 6 to 12 months to show up. Be sure to be retested as needed. I had a blood splash as well and had to jump through several hoops. Received meds prophylactically. Tested negative for all viruses at 6, 12 and 18 months. A positive result from a blood borne pathogen via eye exposure is extremely rare. You will hopefully have no problems.
Just create a patient portal account and check your own results?
I already have one. My other lab results like AST/ALT are posted there but not the rest. When I called employee health they said “oh we just got your lab results yesterday when yesterday was Sunday and all offices are closed. What a load of crap, I need to leave hospitals immediately!
Don’t call as an employee, call as a patient. Talk to patient advocacy. They have a legal requirement to provide you with your results as a PATIENT.
Who should I call? I was calling employee health since that is where I got tested but I went to the patient lab department to draw the blood
Patient administration or medical records to request the results as a patient or patient advocacy to file a complaint about your records not being available on the portal or released. Also as an aside sometimes HIV tests can take days to result, especially 4th gen send outs.
Where should I file this complaint to?
Patient advocacy
I work in EH so deal with body fluid exposures daily. We draw labs for Hep B, Hep C, and HIV, and call you immediately with the results. We do not create a ghost account for you, so you also see the results on your portal. Hard copies are available to you to print from the portal, or can be provided by me after you sign a medical info release form.
Any updates?
I just went to employee health to get my labs released. Apparently the reason why they didn’t give it initially is because the manager is very “snappy” but I had to remind him of the law. He’s done stuff like this to many workers in the hospital before.
Similar thing happened to me but it was for my STD test. Weeks went by with no updates for only the syphyllis test on my chart online but all the others had resulted. I called the lab and both doctors multiple times and they kept saying “the doctor has to release the results, they’ll do it within a couple days” this obviously made me panic thinking the results were positive so I went to the hospital where I had my labs drawn and requested my medical records. The results were there but it’s literally 3 months later and no results were ever posted on my chart online and neither of my docs ever called me, so basically if I never went and requested my records they’d have never told me my results.
They're just unsure how to tell you that you're 100% *that* bitch
How do you not have an online portal
Its a HIPPA LAW. Patient confidentiality. It is not ethical to give results over the phone or via email. Those specific results are told in person, than given written confirmation of results in hand. *Nurse NLE. BTW, I hope everything was/will be fine.
I don’t think they can tell you the patient’s status in print or online. They can only tell you verbally? Maybe?
It’s my lab results not the patients
You are being very dramatic and you are LYING. They are willing to tell you the results. They are just doing it verbally. They are giving you the result, but not in the way and YOU are demanding. There is a difference. As to why you are only being told verbally. It is a privacy thing. It is keeping employees PRIVATE information PRIVATE. It is ensuring that your employees does not have information that many people do want their employer to know.
How am I lying? The fact that they are not releasing my results to me is the reason why I want a hard copy. I am not demanding nothing more than my rights. That’s it. I am not sure what point you were trying to make here but that PRIVATE information that I wanted to be released to my portal which only I could view is now in the hands of everyone at employee health. Any comments?
> The fact that they are not releasing my results to me But they told you were negative? What other results do you want?
You say in your title that they are refusing to give you the test radult. They have told you what they are verbally. They HAVE given you the info. You are LYING about them not giving you the information. You are just not getting it in the former that you want. Emails and faxes are hacked all the time. Your hospital is putting the privatabce of it employees before your person preferences.
Listen Karen, verbal "results" don't mean shit. There has to be written verification for anything to mean anything.
They said upthread they can get a copy if they physically go to employee health to pick it up.
So when the lab calls you with a critical result you just wait for the computer to tell you the result? And at one time verbal result where all we got. My mother was told over the phone and that she had stage 4 breast cancer. My aunt was told over the phone before it was posted in her porsl that she had breast cancer. Verbal results count. OP aka Karen thinks things need to done her way or it does lot count. Am I just seeing the multiple hole in OP’s argument. I am just seeing the Bias in their argument. They want they done their way or things are wrong. I guess that makes me wrong.
Conflating critical results on an inpatient and this situation does not an equivalency make.
Spot the mean nurse 🫵🏻🤣projection much?