Ever since the Hipaa privacy rules came into effect, there has been a proliferation of complaints based on privacy violations. The most recent form of complaint is coming as a result of medical blogging gaining in popularity. Medical bloggers subject to the Hipaa privacy rules should exercise great care in blogging. Avoid any mention of patient specifics. Privacy violations can result simply from disclosing facts sufficient to allow someone to put two and two together and identify the patient and the patient’s issue. To the extent of blogging on medical concerns, stay with general comments. Be sure to include a disclaimer indicating that your blogging is not medical advice. Mary E. Vandenack
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