Applies to all facilities and covered entities Posted October 1, 2002 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. I pulled into Dr. Eberhardt's parking lot on a hot, steamy Texas Hill Country day in August. As I got out of the car, I could see the heat shimmering up from the parking lot. For weeks, I had been complaining to everyone I knew about a pain in my hip. Finally, my office manager sat me down and said, "Suzanne Roberta Moeckle! You get on the phone right now and call your doctor. I'm … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Adventures in HIPAA Land Part 1: The Doctor’s Appointment

Applies to all facilities and covered entities Posted October 10, 2002 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. I left Dr. Eberhardt's office and drove to the town square to go to the drugstore. Dale Nichols is the town pharmacist. He grew up in this town, and has only left long enough to go to college and pharmacy school. I walked out of the searing heat into the cool of Dale's drugstore. Dale was standing behind the counter, he looked at me with the same wary look in his eye he's had … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Adventures in HIPAA Land Part 2: Going to the Drug Store

Applies to all facilities and covered entities Posted November 6, 2002 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. I walked up the sidewalk to Serendipity Village Rest Home to visit my grandparents. One advantage of having lived in the same small town where my folks and their folks grew up was that all of my grandparents got to live in the same rest home. Their lives at Serendipity were one seamless continuation of their lives in the town. As I walked up to the door, I saw a man walk … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Adventures in HIPAA Land Part 3: A Visit to the Nursing Home, Chapter 1

Applies to all facilities and covered entities Posted December 5, 2002 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. I walked into the Serendipity Nursing Home. It was 6 pm on a dark, cold and drizzly Saturday evening in November. I was dateless as usual on this Saturday night (but that's a story for another time), so I had decided to come visit all my grandparents and to put on one of my occasional "film festivals" for the residents of the Serendipity. Mr. Heiligenthal, WWII veteran … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Adventures in HIPAA Land Part 4: The Storm

Applies to all facilities and covered entities Posted January 2, 2003 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. It was a crisply cool and sunny Saturday morning and there I was in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in our little Texas Hill Country town. Wal-Mart is the closest thing we have to a mall, and along with the Dairy Queen, it is one of the social centers of the town. Our little town doesn't have a Starbucks, so Wal-Mart is where the men of the town gather to have coffee on … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Why HIPAA is like Duck Poop (Do you go by State or Federal Law?)

Applies to ICF-MR's and covered entities Posted January 31, 2003 By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D., Garlo Ward, P.C. I was taking my daily walk in the neighborhood when I saw a familiar person standing on the sidewalk a block away. I walked up and saw that it was Lucas Pahl. Lucas is the QMRP for several ICF-MR's in our little town and surrounding towns in the Hill Country. Lucas is about my age. He can truthfully be described as tall, dark and extremely handsome. Of course, when he first came to … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Texas Supreme Court Incites People To “Channel While Dressed Like Tinkerbell”: Another Litigation Floodgate Opens

By Jerri Lynn Ward with Commentary by Hugh Barton Posted April 18, 2003 It's April 14 and I had been tearing my hair out over my tax return, so I decided to take a break and go visit Fred Quinn in the hospital and my grandparents at the Serendipity Village Rest Home. I cleaned up and got in my car and headed over to the hospital. Fred Quinn is our little town's florist. He's in the hospital for surgery on those pesky hemorrhoids he's had trouble with for years. I knew about them because … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Adventures in HIPAA Land: It’s Heeeerrrre!!!

By Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D. Posted June 5, 2003 Today, I was in the produce department at the local HEB Pantry Store trying to open one of those stupid, plastic, impossible-to-open produce bags. I was almost to the point of tearing into it with my teeth when I saw Sam Hershey, the Administrator at the Serendipity Rest Home. Sam has been Administrator at the Serendipity since 1995. Prior to that, he was in the Marines for 20 years. In 2000, he became the owner of the Serendipity because he … [Read more...] about Sue Bob’s Diary: Soap Opera at the Serendipity (Bad Faith Complaints)