3 /5 Robbie BuysStuff: It’s with mixed feelings I write a poor review for what seems to be a very friendly and medically knowledgeable dental practice.
During my hygiene appointment, a gigantic tv in front of me in the exam room displayed a scheduling chart with various patient names and appointment times - a big privacy violation. But what’s horrifying and way worse is that they were drilled into one of the patients on the scheduling chart.
So, for the entire appointment, I was facing the patient image, full name, DOB, social security number, email address, account balance, etc of one of their patients. It was hugely in my face the entire appointment, and the hygienist never took it down or even seemed to notice.
Their staff is very friendly and their doctors seem great and very knowledgeable - but Its so unfortunate that they seem to be reckless with their patients privacy and data.
For the sake of our community, I hope this was an exception, and not the norm.
I hope this practice sees this comment and educates their entire staff on the importance of patient privacy and going forward as a part of room prep, ensured that all patient data is out of view of other patients.
Update:
Danielle called me within hours of the original 1 star review I had posted. Here’s why my 1 star review has been softened to 3 stars:
Danielle assured me that this was an exception to their norm, and that all of their regular staff are trained on HIPAA laws and protecting patient privacy. She seemed very sincere.
Danielle mentioned that the hygienist was a temp hire from Jacksonville and wasn’t familiar with the room we were in, which was a part of what led to the issue. She also mentioned that she would have a discussion with the hygienist so that this mistake doesn’t occur again.
She also mentioned that discussions would be had at their all-staff meeting to bring awareness to the issue for everyone.
Danielle also mentioned they’d be submitting a HIPAA report to document this incident.
She genuinely sounded remorseful, took it very seriously, and made it sound like they are taking action to comply with the law and to protect their patients.
The cherry on top was that she contacted me on a Saturday, outside of standard business hours - a testament to how serious she seems to be taking this issue - as they should be.
This was still a very very bad incident, but Danielle’s seriousness in handling this incident gives me some confidence.
