Danville Regional is pleased to report that it surpasses what the government presently requires, says Edna Jones, R.H.I.T., Director of Health Information Management and Privacy Officer for the health system. We surpass state regulations by allowing patients to view their records with a hospital representative present and to amend them with physician consent. "The state of Virginia does not require us to do that, but we feel it's a customer service issue," she says.

Danville Regional implemented a strict confidentiality policy in 1974, says Jones, that governs privacy issues. "This policy limits access to records and guards the written, oral, and computer dissemination of the information the records contain," she says. "Penalties for breaching this policy are enforced."

When the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) goes into effect, patients will see some changes, says Jones. "You will receive a Notice of Privacy upon registration, much like you now receive from banks and credit card companies. This will outline how your protected health information will be used. Requests for information by outside companies will now need to be more specific and an accounting of disclosures can be requested by the patient.

"The hundreds of thousands of medical records at Danville Regional Medical Center are paper-based," says Jones. Since 1966, records have been placed on microfilm after five years, due to space limitations.

"We've used electronic records since 1966 to communicate between caregivers when the patient is hospitalized," she says. "But the same privacy policy applies, no matter what the form."

"At Danville Regional, we feel that the patient deserves confidentiality and privacy," Jones says. "That has always been our guiding policy here and it will definitely continue in the future."