With the growing number of immigrants, many social workers may find that he or she may need to use an interrupter to assist a client. HIPAA stresses confidentiality. If the interrupter is employed by the agency, this individual would have to follow the same rules as the social worker. My concern is, if the interrupter is a family member, how can the social worker guarantee confidentiality of the client's information. There does not to seem to be any stipulations for this under HIPAA. If you know where I can find this information, please post a website.
Tags: interrupter, confidentiality, guarantee confidentialityhipaa law and school social work, use if hipaa /social worker
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An Interrupter? Most social workers use interpreters. Interrupters would be quite disruptive.
If you meant “interpreter,” well, you just have to trust the interpreter. He is bound by his professional ethics. HIPPAA is just a fig leaf anyway–there are no meaningful sanctions for violation.
The social worker, of course, cannot and does not “guarantee” that the interrupter/interpreter will not talk out of school. Maybe this person should take the trouble to learn the language of the country he/she lives in?
Navy here, and it is true that anti-depressants are non-waiverable at the current time. Keep in mind though, that under HIPAA regulations the Navy can’t get a hold of your private medical records, so they can’t know what you don’t tell them. If you want in, try going off your meds for a couple of months and see how you handle it. If you feel OK, go the recruiter and don’t tell him what meds you’re on. Make sure to make a trial run before you join, though. You don’t want to find out that you really do need the meds in the middle of boot camp.
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