Ask PHN: Hippa in Prison

By Jamila Harris
From PHN Issue 54, Fall 2023

Dear PHN,
Could you explain the rules and violations of the HIPAA Act? Is it a violation if the correctional officer stays in the room while we are seeing medical staff and knows my medical information?

– L.W.

Dear L.W.,
When it comes to the rights of incarcerated individuals and the privacy of their medical information, a valid concern always comes to mind. “Do the correctional officers have the right to know your medical information?” A person who is incarcerated has certain legal rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA. This act is a federal law passed in 1996 that protects how medical information of individuals—including identifying factors such as address, birthdate, and social security number—is transferred and disclosed to others. Under the law, this identifiable health information is known as “protected health information.”

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Making Sense Of The Letters Behind Your Healthcare Provider’s Name

By Seth Lammming and Hannah Faeben
From PHN Issue 51, Winter 2023

At some point in time, you’ve probably been in a doctor’s office or medical facility and noticed all sorts of letters after people’s names. MD, PA, DO, NP, RN, the list goes on. The alphabet soup can get confusing. In this article, we will break down the basic differences between physicians and mid-level providers and what some of these letters mean.

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A Tool in the Struggle to End Medical Copays

By PHN Editors
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Activists in Pennsylvania have started a coalition to end the $5 copay for medical care in state prisons. The coalition includes FAMM, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI), the Institutional Law Project, and Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform—and now Prison Health News has joined too. For those in prison in Pennsylvania, you can help! We need to show the DOC that the copays are truly a hardship for incarcerated people and their families. To do that, you can start using the grievance process when you are unable to afford a copay. The DOC tracks grievances, so seeing grievances over copays will help them understand how often people in prison can’t pay. If you’re not in Pennsylvania, you can do this too, but there is more power in numbers where there is a group of activists taking action together.

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Medical Concerns and Advocacy in Prison: My Perspective

By Joshua O’Connor AKA “Apache”

From PHN Issue 43, Summer 2020

One concern I would like to address is the deliberate indifference and lack of remedy regarding addressing medical concerns in prison. For months, I have been trying to get a new mattress, because my current one is flat and falling apart. In fact, the mattress is only about half an inch thick.

A few years ago (prior to my incarceration), I was in a terrible car accident. My friends and I were lucky to be alive after the accident occurred. I did come away from the accident with multiple injuries, though. I sustained a skull fracture, major concussion, broken leg, broken ankle, and a dislocated kneecap. I still suffer pain all over my body to this day.

The current mattress I have has made my pain so much worse, so I contacted multiple staff members, including medical staff and the sergeant, to ask for a new, better mattress. Nothing happened at first. It wasn’t until I sent a grievance that the sergeant had me come to his office to discuss my concern.