Employer wants private medical information from routine Dr visit

you need to find a 24/7/365 clinic.......or a hospital.

 

Then show me the law. I've already posted where fmcsa states it's a grey area, where is the law stating hippa doesn't apply?
The closest is the medical examiner can share dot physical information with the carrier. That's a long way from saying all medical information isn't covered by hippa.

 

Sometimes you and I are on different pages of totally different books. Then there are times when we are in total agreement. THAT comment I can fully agree with. As a laymen somewhat knowledgeable of title 49 I can see this happening. I also don't fully agree with OPs comment in post #65, but I don't fully disagree either. I don't know how many times I have said this in regard to trucking. There is no one size fits all solutions. This is one reason these agencies like the FMCSA are constantly giving guidance. So because of all this regulation and the liability carriers carry that this HIPPA issue as it relates to trucking safety needs to be litigated.

 

I made a reference in my post #55 last night before I went to bed. It was to someone retired I know. This person used to be in Yellow Freight's safety dept before their Roadway merger. Left there and was running a school for several years. I just got off the phone with him again after he got a chance to look over this thread. He told me of a case from the early 90s where a driver went to see his doctor and got a prescription for a Benzo. Then started driving with Benzos in his system. NOT ONE WORD WAS SAID to his company! This same driver overran an exit on the east bound I40 in Oklahoma. Then the rig entered back onto the highway and hit a SUV and killed everybody in that van as well as the truck driver was killed. The carrier finally paid out a large settlement (terms were not disclosed). Later it was also discovered that the prescribing doctor was never told of the drivers job. I can not and I never will agree that a carrier is not part of insuring a driver is fit and STAYS fit to drive. Those FMCSA regs I made part of that post are clear on this.

Reasonable people can disagree and be reasonable in doing so. I fear this is an issue where we will just have to agree to disagree. I will always contend a carrier has a vital role to play when it comes down to insuring an unfit driver is NOT allowed behind that wheel. I don't care if that unfitness is temporary or permanent!

 

It is in the actual law, I won't post the section but it is there. It is in every health care law that is written starting with the privacy acts in the 70's all the way through the last reiteration of privacy laws with Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.

My point is two part, one is that the privacy of the exam is limited to the examiner and the carrier, which includes all supporting documents of that exam under the old FMCSA regs. The second part, even though HIPAA doesn't apply, the exam has now shifted to the examiner, the supporting information and the driver's docs, but only extends to the carrier with any and all waivers from the FMCSA, like a diabetic waiver.

HOWEVER and I will repeat this again, in the case of the OP, his doc gave him a release to work letter which opens the door for the carrier to ask if he has supporting documentation and or other information to ensure he is fit to work, the letter alone doesn't matter, their duty is to ensure safety of the public. HIPAA again doesn't apply because the exemption that triggers the carrier to do its duty and follow it through.

I somewhat agree with you but the problem isn't with the half day off or anything like that, it is with the letter. Or at least to me. The thing is did you get another physical because of this (I may have missed this) or did you just give them the letter?

IF this was routine, then schedule a day off, it is none of their business. If you used the letter for some excuse, then that's wrong, all you needed to do is tell them "too bad, I took a day off".

As an owner, I would question my driver if he came to me and said "I need to take the afternoon off, I have to go to the docs, that opened the door for me to ask, and if he returned with a letter, that is a suspicion move on his part, I have to ask him to provide the needed documentation to answer why I got that letter.

AND it has been addressed in the legal world, there hasn't been a court case about this situation because of the exemption, I know no lawyer who would even consider taking the case, and it is in all the health care laws.

Moose, I've said this a few times here, there are exemptions to HIPAA like there are with other health care laws, the reason for this is because when they were written, the USDOT and other agencies (even the EPA) have to have health care data for the protection of the public. There hasn't been a lot of abuse about these exemptions and every law has it in it somewhere. I think what the real problem is and has been in this industry is the fact that we are treated like commercial Pilots, when we shouldn't be.

We should have simple physical and that's it, none of this bs like sleep apnea and so on. I am a victim of all of this BS, believe me the money, time and "pain" of getting through a physical has been hard on me, so I retired because of it. To me simplifying it is the best, I like the idea of just having the cert on file and soon I get an MVR with the info so that helps me, I feel for the drivers and the BS still, especially with the crap of having one to maintain the license and then getting hired and having to go through the same crap with the new company, I am a proponet of forcing a carrier to accept any physical that won't expire in say a month as the one the driver has, getting rid of the carrier profit center.

BUT on the other hand, what makes it bad for a lot of drivers are those who lie, not disclosing a problem should be punished, and believe me I've had my share of drivers who were caught by the examiner. One of my drivers was fired because his first examine with me was a two year card with no disclosure he was diabetic and had cardiac issues, it was the renewal that caught it all because the examiner called his PCP and it was all disclosed what he had for the last 10 years.

 

I don't think i have said this in the open. I retired from trucking about 2 weeks before Christmas of 2012. My medical was due to expire that coming spring and I knew I was not going to get another card. The summer of 2012 I visited my primary doctor (at the time) in Royston Georgia about some problems I was having. I did not know it at the time but I was in the beginning stages of PTE. He refered me to a neurologist who ordered some testing and around Thanksgiving delivered me that bad news. I made a few trips then hung it up. I also reached out to a friend and asked him if a safety job might still be open. Then as 2012 became 2013 my world came apart. I got a physical at the VA for a year. I did this so i could transfer my CDL to Virginia. After some medical testing I saw I was going to lose not only my CDL but even my ability to drive a car. I reluctantly had to turn that job down. I know what it feels like to be forced for medical reasons out of trucking.

 

Then prove it. Moose and I have both posted the actual law that disagrees with you. To keep saying hippa doesn't apply to drivers at all is wrong. Either post the law or stop spouting b.s.