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Post next of kin surveys after the death
Author: SBauman
Date: Mar 30, 2008 2:48 pm
Help! My palliative care team (acute care hospital) would like to do a QI project (as suggested in Joanne Lynn's book "Improving PC") which would involve surveying next-of-kin regarding their satisfaction with the end-of-life care their loved one received in the hospital. The administration says contacting these people would be a HIPPA violation without prior consent of the patient. We plan to get such consent as we go forward but would really like to contact people from last year. Is this really a HIPPA issue? Susan Bauman MD
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Re:next of kin surveys after the death (by mrabow on 06/01/2008)
I don't believe so. Sending a QI survey from the hospital to the next of kin is commonly done without prior consent of the patient and is really outside HIPPA concerns. In general, HIPPA assumes consent for family. However, your institution should be in agreement before anything is sent out. It is sometimes a new thing for hospitals to assess the care received by patients who have died. best, mike Michael W. Rabow, MD Director, Symptom Management Service Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Palliative Care Leadership Center University of California, San Francisco
Re:next of kin surveys after the death (by mrabow on 06/01/2008)
I don't believe so. Sending a QI survey from the hospital to the next of kin is commonly done without prior consent of the patient and is really outside HIPPA concerns. In general, HIPPA assumes consent for family. However, your institution should be in agreement before anything is sent out. It is sometimes a new thing for hospitals to assess the care received by patients who have died. best, mike Michael W. Rabow, MD Director, Symptom Management Service Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Palliative Care Leadership Center University of California, San Francisco
Re:next of kin surveys after the death (by mrabow on 06/01/2008)
I don't believe so. Sending a QI survey from the hospital to the next of kin is commonly done without prior consent of the patient and is really outside HIPPA concerns. In general, HIPPA assumes consent for family. However, your institution should be in agreement before anything is sent out. It is sometimes a new thing for hospitals to assess the care received by patients who have died. best, mike Michael W. Rabow, MD Director, Symptom Management Service Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Palliative Care Leadership Center University of California, San Francisco

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