Q&A: Obtaining permission to prescribe medications

Q. I manage a doctor’s office. We have a patient who has been continually requesting a medication. Our provider explained to the patient that he needed a note from his employer and parole officer for us to be able to give him the medication. The patient then forwarded us a letter from his employer we believe to be fraudulent. Is it a HIPAA violation to forward this letter to the employer to validate its authenticity?

A. Requesting the employer’s permission to prescribe a medication for a patient is rather unusual. If you truly need the employer’s permission, it would be reasonable to contact the individual who wrote the letter to verify its authenticity. It would be preferable to do this by telephone, rather than forward the actual letter to the employer. 

Editor's note: This question was answered by Mary D. Brandt, MBA, RHIA, CHE, CHPS for Briefings on HIPAA. Brandt is a healthcare consultant specializing in healthcare regulatory compliance and operations improvement. She is also an advisory board member for BOH. This information does not constitute legal advice. Consult legal counsel for answers to specific privacy and security questions. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent HCPro or ACDIS.