Here’s a story that gave me a bit of a chuckle, “Note leads police to robbery arrest“…
Last Friday (5/30/08) a man tried to rob a Dairy Queen in Chicago and handed a note demanding money to an employee there. The employee ran to the back of the store and the robber ran out the door and robbed a dry cleaners before returning to his home.
The robbery note was written on the back of a doctor’s stationery, and it had the name and address of the suspect. The police went to the address a little later in the day and indeed found the robber.
The part I got a chuckle from was…
“You have to be careful what kind of stationery you write your robbery statement on,” Hayes [Police Chief Fred Hayes] said. “We were a little concerned about violating HIPAA rules.”
The sad thing is, it is likely he really was serious when he mentioned concern about HIPAA! There is so much misunderstanding out there about it and what must be done for compliance…
Chief Hayes, you are not a healthcare covered entity (provider, insurer, or clearinghouse)…this is not a situation that would have gotten your department into any trouble specifically with regard to HIPAA!
Tags: awareness and training, Chicago, dumb robbers, Fred Hayes, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA, Information Security, IT compliance, policies and procedures, privacy, risk management, security awareness, security training