Went in here a couple weeks ago, I needed a labtest done, involving something particularly personal. The woman who seems to be the primary nurse came up to me. I never stayed long enough to get her actual name or position. She has shortish blond hair. She asked me out loud in front of everyone there what test I wanted to get done, everyone turns, and is looking at us standing in the middle of the lobby as I answer. She apparently does not hear me somehow even though she is three feet away from me, so I say it louder, enunciating clearly. She turns and repeats what I said in a mocking tone. I understand that this is just a small clinic, not a well run hospital, but can't people expect just basic courtesy and professionalism even here? So I left.
But the problem is for me to go to another clinic is at least an extra 15 miles and probably an extra hour of time wasted, while this one is almost walking distance to where I live, so I gave it another chance, hoping maybe someone else was working. The same woman was there unfortunately, I walked up and tried to look at their intake paperwork, hoping I could just fill it out and wait. Which, by the way is how any decent clinic functions; you go online and/or fill out a form telling them what you need done, not someone coming up to you with some kind of creepy and immediate curiosity and overbearing ignorance of peoples' privacy.
But, no, blond woman was there, and oh yes she remembered me from before, and she was determined to let me know how offended she was by my being offended by her.
She of course loudly asked me again what test I wanted to get, and I asked her if this was the way they did things here, just publicly ask people about private medical issues. She said we could go back in private and talk about it, but by this time I really did not want this, and besides, I would not trust this woman to stick a needle in me, not ever. So I left, and blond woman called after me in an unpleasant and accusatory? tone, "this is the second time you did this!". I guess in her mind I did something to her somehow? Not sure what's going on in the head of someone like that.
Attention Anylabtestnow, I have never been to any of your other clinics so I don't know if this is how you run them all or if it's just this one. But you need to stop this, stop asking people about private medical issues in the middle of a clinic with strangers sitting there staring at you like monkeys in the zoo. I'm not a lawyer specializing in medical privacy issues but this has to be a violation of rules and ethics, if not an actual violation of HIPAA law.
Don't go here. Don't do business with this woman.
Edit/Update from later this same day: I quote from AnyLabTestNow's own documents, "ANY LAB TEST NOW is required by applicable federal law and state law to maintain the privacy of your health information." "We use and disclose health information about you for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, IF AND ONLY IF YOU PROVIDE WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION." - capitalization added by myself.
I submitted a complaint to the dept. of health and human services for health information privacy violation today, also. read more
