TAKING PATIENT PHOTOGRAPHS / Procedure No. / Published: MM/DD/YY
Administrative Procedure Manual/ Medical Staff Services / Page 1 of 4
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this procedure is to detail the appropriate indications and processes for taking Photographs of patients. Indications for photographs include, but are not limited to, documenting physical manifestations of disease; monitoring progress of wounds, injuries, or other disease maladies; capturing unique or classic disease manifestations for educational or quality purposes; and for documenting surgical procedures for specialty case logs as required by the respective Boards of Surgical Subspecialties.
SCOPE:
All Parkland Health & Hospital System (“Parkland”) facilities, including but not limited to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, clinics, and all corporate departments/divisions.
PROCEDURE:
1.Only the following indications for taking of patient photographs are permitted at Parkland:
A.Clinical photographs:
1)Clinical Photographs are a part of the medical health record and as such are governed under the requirements of all policies and procedures addressing medical health record security, disclosure and use. Clinicians may use any mobile personal device but if using such a device MUST capture the Clinical photograph using the Epic Haiku application, published by Epic Systems Corporation and downloaded from the official App store from either Google or Apple.
2)The consent for treatment form allows Parkland Clinicians to take Clinical photographs to document a patient’s care. Parkland Clinicians should discuss the intent to take Clinical photographs with the patient prior to taking them and assure the patient that the image will be treated as part of the medical health record.
a). Parkland Clinicians may use:
- A Parkland-supplied camera; or
- Any mobile device but MUST capture the Clinical Photograph using the Epic Haiku application, published by Epic Systems Corporation and downloaded from the official App store from either Google or Apple. The Epic Haiku application may not be modified from its official configuration in any way.
Should a Parkland Clinician not wish to use the Haiku application, the Parkland Clinician must use a Parkland-supplied camera. Clinical photographs may not be stored on a personal device.
b). When taking a Clinical Photograph, a Parkland Clinician must verify the patient identity with two forms of identification and must verify that the patient’s MRN is correct prior to capturing the Clinical photograph. Patient identification is not required to be included in the obtained Clinical photograph.
c). Clinical Photographs in which the patient’s identity is identifiable can be disclosed outside of Parkland for treatment purposes only if permitted by Parkland’s privacy policies and procedures and in accordance with Parkland’s Notice of Privacy Practices, but only after the patient has signed a written HIPAA-compliant authorization. Clinical photographs that are de-identified in accordance with the requirements of HIPAA and are not so unique as to allow the patient to reasonably identify him- or herself in the Clinical photograph can be disclosed outside of Parkland for treatment purposes without obtaining the patient’s prior authorization.
d). Clinical photographs captured with the Haiku app shall automatically be uploaded into the electronic medical record of the patient and shall be considered part of the Legal Medical Record. The electronic medical record shall reflect that a photograph was taken and the photograph will be included within the encounter in which the image was taken.
e). ClinicalPhotographs usedfor educational or non-IRB research purposes must be de-identified in accordance with HIPAA requirements, or the patient must give written HIPAA-compliant authorizationfor such use.
f). A request for a copy of a Clinical photograph from the patient who is the subject of the Clinical Photograph must be submitted to the Health Information Management Department for processing. Clinical photographs taken for research purposes are not considered part of the medical record, though consents for such images are part of the LMR. In the event a Clinical photograph of a patient or part of a patient’s body is individually-identifiable, then the disclosure of that Clinical Photograph constitutes a release of medical information.
EQUIPMENT:
N/A
DEFINITIONS:
1.A Mobile Personal Device is a portable computer device or phone which is encrypted and password protected and otherwise meets the standards defined in the Parkland “BYOD Procedure” ***ABCDE123***.
2.A PatientPhotograph is a digital or film captured image of part or all of a patient, including video, still photography, digital imaging, scans, media, or other means of recording and reproducing images created by processing visible light.
3.Clinical photographs may include, but are not limited to,:
- Visible manifestations of disease processes and injury (i.e. pressure ulcers or wounds, assaults, and/or accidents)
- Procedural documentation (i.e. video recordings of endoscopic or surgical procedures; educational/certification requirements of specialty procedure logs)
4.Parkland Clinicians include all personnel with privileges to participate in clinical care at Parkland, including employees, contracted employees, house staff, physicians and non-physician clinical providers, and credentialed volunteers.
REFERENCES:
BYOD Policy #****
FN-1907 Release of Information Intake Process
FN-1908 Release of Information Fulfillment Process
FN-1500 Legal Requests for Records – Subpoenas and Court Orders
Admin 12-07 Request to Photograph or Film Patient
09-07 Photographing of Patients
Admin 5-08A Photograph Documentation-Victims of Violence
Admin 15-01 Legal Health Record & Designated Record Set