Author Topic: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid  (Read 127804 times)

Offline ocwankenobi

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #705 on: February 18, 2021, 04:18:12 PM »
My understanding is Disneyland is closed until next week.  I think the weather impeded vaccine delivery. 

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #706 on: February 18, 2021, 04:51:54 PM »
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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, we were at Petco yesterday.  Everything is up and running.  It's all good.

Unfortunately my dad's appointment tomorrow has been postponed.  He got a text and an email this afternoon.  They will reschedule it for him so that's good.  Here's the text of the letter:

Dear Patient,
 
The County of San Diego has announced that the Petco Park Vaccination Super Station will be closed February 19 and 20 (Friday and Saturday) because of the delay of an expected vaccine shipment. 
We apologize and will reschedule your appointment automatically once the vaccine delivery has been confirmed.  You will soon receive a MyUCSDChart cancellation notice, but rest assured it will be followed by a new scheduling notice when more information becomes available. You do not have to take any action to be rescheduled.
 
Please be aware, the CDC has advised that people can wait up to 42 days between doses.  See more information on timing of second doses.
 
We appreciate your understanding.

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #707 on: Today at 02:58:00 PM »

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #707 on: February 18, 2021, 06:59:35 PM »
That's disappointing.  They are now saying that Petco may also be closed Sunday and Monday too.

We were lucky and got in between two delayed shipments.  So far no side effects.

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #708 on: February 18, 2021, 07:15:02 PM »
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That's disappointing.  They are now saying that Petco may also be closed Sunday and Monday too.

We were lucky and got in between two delayed shipments.  So far no side effects.

I'm glad you were able to get in!  Hopefully my dad will get in next week, fingers crossed.

Offline puppy

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #709 on: February 18, 2021, 11:55:24 PM »
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I wouldn't say the credentials were forged, per say.  Bus Drivers deal with a bus full of children and are the sole caretaker for the kids' journey from 'home' to school: if a medical emergency arises the drivers have to do what they have to do.  In CA School Bus Drivers are required, by legal statute, to pass a CHP first aid exam or take an American Red Cross or EMSA-approved training course.  In our district many students riding a bus are special needs, and those are the students who are currently attending K-12 school in-person.
I mainly only brought that situation merely to point out that there is no arduous 'healthcare employee' check being done for current vaccinations so I doubt there will be an arduous medical history check for the next phase.  I've heard stories of plenty of people getting vaccinations not in the current tier for one reason or another (some I know personally literally were able to get vaccinated because the person administering didn't care and never checked credentials; similarly some people who may have gotten a vaccine in a situation like they were accompanying their elder parents whom they live with were shown a hard "no" due to current regulations).

I'm sorry, but bus driver is a health care provider is a total stretch for me. If a medical emergency happened when the bus driver was driving, s/he would not know more than anyone else with basic cpr/first aid training what to do. Seriously. In what other circumstances would you call a school bus driver a health care professional? Would you trust them to diagnose and treat your child? I call those documents forged. I agree that educational staff should be vaccinated, but not if they have to lie to do it.

Just because people are getting vaccinated who shouldn't be vaccinated doesn't make this right.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2021, 11:58:58 PM by puppy »

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #710 on: February 19, 2021, 11:25:28 AM »
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I'm glad you were able to get in!  Hopefully my dad will get in next week, fingers crossed.

I have my fingers crossed for you guys too.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2021, 11:29:02 AM by chocolateshake »

Offline Jasond878

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #711 on: February 19, 2021, 11:41:57 AM »
Thank you so much omraged9 for this link, and to Alyssa for telling me about the thread!!! I just got my mom an appointment for next week, which she hasn’t been able to do through Kaiser.

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There's another website that I found that seems to list vaccination sites:

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It seems to have listings of different local sites in each CA county and the links on how to sign up for each site.
Twitter: @JasonDelgado78


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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #712 on: February 20, 2021, 12:46:05 PM »
Another study came out yesterday that shows that covid can have effects even if you initially have no symptoms.  Almost a third of all people that catch covid suffer at least one symptom for at least 3 months.  There's no difference between people that had mild symptoms versus people that were hospitalized.  Many people that were one of the lucky ones that initially had covid without any symptoms developed symptoms weeks or months later.  These long term symptoms can be ongoing.  The study cites up to 9 months duration since that's as long as they tracked people for the study but some people are going on 11 months with covid symptoms.

A study a few months ago out of the UK showed that 30% of all hospitalized people that recovered from covid were re-hospitalized within 5 months.  12% subsequently died.

We tend to think of covid in terms of two binary events.  Infected or not, recovered or not.  But it's more complicated than that.  It's not like the cold or flu where once it's over it's over.  Covid can stick with you long after you've "recovered".  It's unknown if vaccinations will help with this.  Until it is, even after I'm vaccinated, I'll still take the same precautions I am now.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2021, 12:49:02 PM by chocolateshake »

Offline perc2100

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #713 on: February 20, 2021, 05:37:28 PM »
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Another study came out yesterday that shows that covid can have effects even if you initially have no symptoms.  Almost a third of all people that catch covid suffer at least one symptom for at least 3 months.  There's no difference between people that had mild symptoms versus people that were hospitalized.  Many people that were one of the lucky ones that initially had covid without any symptoms developed symptoms weeks or months later.  These long term symptoms can be ongoing.  The study cites up to 9 months duration since that's as long as they tracked people for the study but some people are going on 11 months with covid symptoms.

A study a few months ago out of the UK showed that 30% of all hospitalized people that recovered from covid were re-hospitalized within 5 months.  12% subsequently died.

We tend to think of covid in terms of two binary events.  Infected or not, recovered or not.  But it's more complicated than that.  It's not like the cold or flu where once it's over it's over.  Covid can stick with you long after you've "recovered".  It's unknown if vaccinations will help with this.  Until it is, even after I'm vaccinated, I'll still take the same precautions I am now.
Adding to the seeming 'grey line'/non-binary COVID results:
I just read a twitter thread from a guy who's dad died of COVID, only the storyline wasn't the typical "got COVID, had to go to hospital, was intubated, died."  It was: got sick, had to go the the hospital, was released, lungs never quite healed and he continued to have breathing problems, died several months after being released from the hospital because of lung failure.

Add to that, a friend of mine up in LA got COVID early on: right before the mid-March shutdown.  To give you some background, he ran marathons, had run a small handful of Iron Man events and those super marathons (that were, like, running a marathon every day over very hilly terrain, over the course of a long weekend), and did some mountain climbing.  Like, IIRC he was exhibiting symptoms around the time everything was closing/canceling but before the March 13th date.  He was sending me (and others) updates of his conditions, in fairly graphic details: like, describing the color and thickness of fluid and whatnot he kept hacking up.  He was afraid to go to the hospital because 1) he doesn't have insurance (he's a freelance writer) and 2) he thought at that point going to the hospital was a death sentence.  He was in constant contact with his doctor, was able to get a test at that point (which was really rare) to confirm he did indeed have COVID-19, and was able to ride it out.  Sort of.
He didn't need to go to the hospital for advanced treatments, though he was sick in bed for just under a month.  For well over a month after he was breathing OK again, though, he was still exhausted and unable to do a lot of normal tasks that were no problems before.  He went to the doctor after testing negative a few times to make sure he was in the clear, where the doctor did a thorough examination of his lungs.  I got the impression because it was earlyish in the pandemic the doctor/hospital was doing all sorts of things because they didn't have a great understanding of the effects of COVID.  So my friend learned COVID did _MASSIVE_ damage to his lungs: it was bad enough that the doctor advised him he may never be able to run marathons every again.

Almost a full year later (he thinks this is right around the time he attended the function that was an early 'super spreader' where he got sick) he still has significant lung issues, and is still unable to do basic things.  He was saying he couldn't job up a light of stairs at his apartment complex at all: that even merely walking up them slowly, while grasping the handrail, takes all the energy away from him and makes him breathe heavy and feel like he's on the verge of having to gasp for air.  He attempts walking regularly for exercise, and he says he has to plan his day around going for walks: if he walks to early in the day he doesn't have any energy to do other stuff.  He used to occasionally smoke marijuana, as well as cigars, but he said the one time he's tried since last year (sometime early fall IIRC) was a nightmare for him: he half-joked that he got 'rookie lungs' all over again, but also confided smoking was not a good decisions and he wouldn't try it again anytime soon because he felt he couldn't breathe at all when smoking (he didn't smoke even half a joint, and ended up throwing the rest away).

So add that this to the in no way a binary 'sick/not sick; recovered/died' situation.  This is one of millions of Americans who got COVID, wasn't quite bad enough to have to check into the ER, but may have irreparable damage to his lungs from the disease.  Add the stuff we've heard about athletes having heart issues after COVID, as well as the fact this is new enough that we literally have zero idea what the long term impact of this is on anyone, and this is a scary, scary thing.

Stay safe out there: don't think that just because we're on the cusp of getting vaccinated, and that the holiday crush of infections is subsiding, that now is OK to let our guards down!

Offline omraged9

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #714 on: February 20, 2021, 06:33:31 PM »
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By working at an HIPAA covered entity, then those people are authorized.  As part of employment, paid or volunteer, they should have to agree to be bound by HIPAA if they have access to any PHI.  Many facilities will require everyone, even those who don't and never will have access to any PHI, to sign that they agree to be bound by the HIPAA privacy rules.  The same as at any health care facility like a doctor's office or a hospital.

When I said I had to agree to HIPAA when getting a flu shot, I didn't mean by providing my medical history to them.  Anyone can ask for anyone's health history.  I meant I had to acknowledge that they are allowed to share my health history with other people involved in my care just like with any health provider.  Be that my PCP, the insurance company or the government.  Signing that acknowledgement/waiver is standard practice in health care.

The check in people should not be the ones making the call, it should be part of the registration process.  The check in people should only know if someone is a go or no go.  By the way, those check in people are also bound by HIPAA if that facility is a covered entity.  Since the mere fact that someone is getting a vaccination alone is PHI.  So if the concern is about potential HIPAA violations, then that concern has always been there regardless if the facility is a vaccination site, doctor's office, hospital or pharmacy.

There's no general HIPAA covered entity. Every practice/hospital/clinic needs to have a HIPAA form signed by patients that are seen there and that HIPAA form is only specific for that particular practice/hospital/clinic. And even with a signed HIPAA, just to cover themselves, if they were to share any medical information for that particular patient with another office, they may still have the patient sign another informed consent form. I honestly don't know if you can get paid or volunteer vaccination workers to sign forms that make them covered for HIPAA compliance. From the offices I worked at, it doesn't work that way. Theoretically each health care-related office are supposed to have their employees undergo HIPAA training. The employees don't sign any HIPAA compliance forms. The compliance is really bound by lawsuits or HIPAA complaints and employees would only be punished theoretically by loss of employment. So none of this really fits temporary paid or volunteer workers. You can't really enforce HIPAA rules on temporary workers.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #715 on: February 21, 2021, 01:16:42 AM »
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The compliance is really bound by lawsuits or HIPAA complaints and employees would only be punished theoretically by loss of employment. So none of this really fits temporary paid or volunteer workers. You can't really enforce HIPAA rules on temporary workers.

Yes you can.  Use the same method as with any confidential information.  Have the workers sign a NDA.  Confidentiality agreements are common for employment be that temporary or permanent and in volunteering.  That not only protects a company's IP but also the PI of their clients.  Such as the PHI of patients in a health care setting.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 01:19:22 AM by chocolateshake »

Offline perc2100

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #716 on: February 22, 2021, 06:14:51 PM »
Petco site down today again; WILL be open tomorrow.  1800 appointments behind; as of late this morning the county is still waiting for COVID-19 vaccine shipments that have been delayed by winter storms.  Here's the lates from the Trib: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

In other news, late last week my parents in AZ (moved from OH last April) got their first dose.  They're the type that've been kinda cautious but not exactly staying home: going to 'socially distant' church, out to eat, running errands, etc.  They're retired as of last April, and not the "sit at home and do nothing" type, so I feel slightly better that they're on top of getting the vaccine, at least.

Offline omraged9

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #717 on: February 22, 2021, 11:11:15 PM »
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Yes you can.  Use the same method as with any confidential information.  Have the workers sign a NDA.  Confidentiality agreements are common for employment be that temporary or permanent and in volunteering.  That not only protects a company's IP but also the PI of their clients.  Such as the PHI of patients in a health care setting.

To me, it just seems too messy. How do you force volunteers to sign a NDA? Also, a NDA is not the same as a HIPAA form. Again, employees and volunteers don't sign HIPAA forms. It's the patients who sign HIPAA forms-- these are informed consent forms telling them what their medical privacy rights are. Employees and volunteers can undergo HIPAA training but there are no forms for them to sign.

It's just way easier to have each person with a pre-existing condition that qualifies for them for vaccinations in the current phase/tier to have their primary care doctor sign a form that confirms that they qualify and they bring the form to the vaccination sites.. Simple and easy. No way of violating HIPAA.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #718 on: February 23, 2021, 12:38:28 AM »
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To me, it just seems too messy. How do you force volunteers to sign a NDA? Also, a NDA is not the same as a HIPAA form. Again, employees and volunteers don't sign HIPAA forms. It's the patients who sign HIPAA forms-- these are informed consent forms telling them what their medical privacy rights are. Employees and volunteers can undergo HIPAA training but there are no forms for them to sign.

It's simple, if someone wants to be a volunteer then they have to sign the agreement.  If they don't want to sign the agreement, then they can't be a volunteer.  That's common.  You should see the forms you have to sign just to volunteer at an animal shelter.

At the completion of HIPAA training the employee, permanent or volunteer, should sign a form acknowledging they completed the training.  An organization should do this if for no other reason then to document that the employee has gone through training.  What's in that agreement?  There could be confidentiality clauses.  Which can be redundant since there's probably confidentially clauses in the employment agreement.  Here are some examples of those clauses.

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NDAs are common.  People sign a lot more of them then they realize.  Ever visit a friend for lunch at a big company?  Ever wonder why they make you sign in as a visitor?  In many cases, you are signing a NDA.  Ever sign in when you went to an early screening of a movie?  Chances are you signed a NDA.

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It's just way easier to have each person with a pre-existing condition that qualifies for them for vaccinations in the current phase/tier to have their primary care doctor sign a form that confirms that they qualify and they bring the form to the vaccination sites.. Simple and easy. No way of violating HIPAA.

Spreading information that someone has a pre-existing condition, even if unspecified, is a possible HIPAA violation.  Just knowing someone is there getting a vaccination is a possible HIPAA violation.  I don't see how a doctor's note removes all HIPAA privacy concerns.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2021, 10:40:57 AM by chocolateshake »

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #719 on: February 23, 2021, 09:09:53 AM »
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Petco site down today again; WILL be open tomorrow.  1800 appointments behind; as of late this morning the county is still waiting for COVID-19 vaccine shipments that have been delayed by winter storms.  Here's the lates from the Trib: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

My dad checked MyChart this morning and he isn't rescheduled yet.  His appointment was last Friday, 2/19.  Hopefully he'll hear soon.