I've heard encryption before on the med channels.I just heard a report on MED 7, yet the ambulance was using what sounded like encryption while the hospital was in the clear... anyone else hearing this in ABQ?
I listened about 30 minutes today and heard AAS and Rio Rancho in the clear talking on a few different MED channels. I will listen later when I have more time.I just heard a report on MED 7, yet the ambulance was using what sounded like encryption while the hospital was in the clear... anyone else hearing this in ABQ?
And you can still tune in to that EMS traffic today in many places. There is no requirement that radio communication need be encrypted as far as HIPAA is concerned.HIPAA requires that personal medical information be protected. Many EMS providers protect that info via encryption when using a radio circuit to communicate a patient's medical status to a hospital.
In the old days, you could monitor FD/EMS being sent to a specific address on a medical call, then if the patient was transported, you could tune in the hospital/ambulance radio channel & learn that in addition to the bursitis flareup that resulted in the 9-1-1 call, the EMS crew might give the hospital a head's up that the patient has AIDS or something. Since AIDS is treated more as a civil rights issue than a public health issue, that sort of thing, plus of course the electronic medical records, became a privacy concern.
Correct - there was a lot of questions about that when HIPAA came out. The final determination was that as long as you did not give out the persons name, the transmission of current patient data as well as any underlying conditions that were the result of or impacted on the current medical condition could be transmitted in the clear. About the only time you get anything close to "naming names" is on a transfer where the EMS crew advised they are enroute with a patient "J.S." - or whatever their initals are - and enquires if the hospital is aware of the transfer.Actually You can give full reports to the hospital in the clear with no problems what so ever as long as you dont name the patient.
Did I state otherwise?And you can still tune in to that EMS traffic today in many places. There is no requirement that radio communication need be encrypted as far as HIPAA is concerned.
Yep. "In the old days..", "could monitor...", "could tune..." all imply that you cannot today.Did I state otherwise?
In the old days, you could monitor FD/EMS being sent to a specific address on a medical call, then if the patient was transported, you could tune in the hospital/ambulance radio channel & learn that in addition to the bursitis flareup that resulted in the 9-1-1 call...