Implant patients communicating with new patients?

[Bailey]

It was suggested to me to ask the surgeons office to provide my information to previous implant patients to call me about his experience with his surgery. One of the surgeons I’m considering said they aren’t allowed to do that. It doesn’t violate HIPPA, but does it violate anyone’s privacy, if I sign authorizing them to provide my contact info? It would be up to them if they wanted to share their experience. I would gladly be happy to help in someone’s decision by contacting them. I think this would go along way in helping with my decision. Their refusal sends the wrong message to me about if this the surgeon I want to go with. Thanks, Bailey

[Lost Sheep]

It was suggested to me to ask the surgeons office to provide my information to previous implant patients to call me about his experience with his surgery. One of the surgeons I’m considering said they aren’t allowed to do that. It doesn’t violate HIPPA, but does it violate anyone’s privacy, if I sign authorizing them to provide my contact info? It would be up to them if they wanted to share their experience. I would gladly be happy to help in someone’s decision by contacting them. I think this would go along way in helping with my decision. Their refusal sends the wrong message to me about if this the surgeon I want to go with. Thanks, Bailey

Your surgeon is mistaken. IF (and this is a significant "if") he understood that you wanted him to provide YOUR information to his other patients, leaving it up to those patients to contact you if they desired.

HIPPA does not prohibit private individuals from sharing their medical information in any way, shape or form. That was not the intent of the law, nor is it the letter of the law.

If he misunderstood (thinking that you wanted him to provide THEIR contact information to YOU) then that MIGHT be a violation.

HIPPA is scary to a lot of medical people as well as peripheral non-medical people (insurance carriers, adjusters, etc., medical device providers, pharmacists, and probably many others I cannot think of right now. When I said "scary" I mean REALLY scary. So, they err on the side of caution.

I suggest you look up the law on the internet. There may be a form letter you could give to your surgeon authorizing the release of your (contact) information to other, private, individuals that would indemnify your surgeon against HIPPA violations. Then ask again, outlining WHY you want to get testimonials from his prior patients.

Dr. Eid (and others, I am sure) provided me a list of former patients who indicated a willingness to talk to me about their experiences. Of course, that was in 2017. HIPPA may have gotten scarier since then. But I can see no reason unidirectional communication should not be an easy and beneficial act for all concerned.

As a last resort, you could ask if any of his former patients would be willing to write you a testimonial letter and send that to your surgeon. He could then forward that letter to you (unopened, hopefully). This leaves him even more shielded from HIPPA complaint.

The bottom line is that you want to know (from the people themselves) if he leaves his patients happy or unhappy. How can he object to that?

[Bailey]

Thank you Lost Sheep for all the information you’ve provided me regarding this matter. I hope I can get one of these surgeons to allow one of his implant patients to contact me. Take care, Bailey

[DougAnd]

Bailey post the names of the surgeons on franktalk and ask if anyone has used them before you might get lucky

[dg_moore]

After my implant Dr. Kramer asked me if he could refer prospective patients to me for questions, etc. I agreed and did hear from several guys. No privacy issues.