At CMA’s HIPAA compliance seminars, a number of attendees have asked if HIPAA allows the continued use of patient sign-in sheets. The short answer is yes. The information requested on the sheet, however, should be limited to the patient’s name and time of arrival. If you have a practice where even this basic information would be particularly sensitive (an AIDS clinic, for example), consider dispensing with sign-in sheets.

Do you have other questions
about HIPAA compliance?
Sign up for CMA’s "Total HIPAA: CMA's No-Nonsense HIPAA Compliance Workshop" today and get the answers you need. Co-hosted by your local county medical associations, the workshops are being held from now through spring 2003 to ensure that physicians are prepared for the April 2003 compliance deadline.