Forged Dr's. Note:

njjel

I have every reason to believe that a doctor's note and FMLA Certification of Health brought in by one of our employee's is a forgery. I want to call the doctor's office and ascertain if this person is a patient of his and if he signed the note. Am I legal to do so?

rad

When our employees submit FMLA paperwork, they also sign a waiver allowing us to verify its authenticity and to verify dates of treatment, but not to get details about the illness or anything private. In cases where it has been found that employees have forged notes, they are dismissed.

Don D

The clinic would not disclose the patient/Dr relationship. A better approach would be to call the clinic and advise them that you'd like to fax over a document for them to verify it's authenticity. Then they'll tell you whether it's authentic.

njjel

Don - and if they would release that info am I legal to have inquired?

Don D

It's never illegal to inquire. It may be inappropriate for them to answer but you can ask whatever you like.

njjel

I called and they advised this ee is not a patient there. I was surprised that there was no hesitation on their part to reveal that info.

rad

The article on the homepage addresses an issue somewhat like this...

Cinderella

Just curious - what makes you think it's forged?

Gillian3

Don't forget to close the loop. Tell the employee what happened and say "what gives". Maybe someone in the doctors office hasn't updated the files to reflect the employees visit and they are in error. More than likely the employee won't have a response that will satisfy you and you do what you normally do when you catch someone using false documents.

deniseE

We just faced a UC hearing on this kind of situation...an ee allegedly forged her dr's note...one of our HR reps called the office and was told that the ee hadn't been seen there for months, so based upon that information we terminated her.

At the hearing, we had no proof she forged the document, beyond our belief. She produced a letter from the office stating that while she did not have an appointment, the office was standing behind the excuse.

UC was denied.

What I would have done differently: Obtained approval from the ee to contact the dr's office (she refused-so we made our decision based on facts at hand)...with or without her approval, received some kind of written confirmation from the dr's office regarding that particular excuse. That would have been helpful at the hearing.

Recent caselaw suggests that employers are right to question these situations...but we should always tread lightly in areas of ee privacy.

njjel

In further, this ee can not remember which doctor she saw! Claims it is a multi-physician practice and you see whomever (which is not the case per the doctor's office). She is supposed to let her supervisor know tomorrow which doctor she saw. She stated that it was the nurse/secretary who signed the notes however they have no one there by the signature signed!

Pork

nijjel: YOU MAY DO SO BUT I BET THE DR'S OFFICE IS GOING TO PULL A HIPAA ACT AND YOU'LL FIND OUT NOTHING ON THE TELEPHONE. I suggest you send them a FAX and ask for their verification that this document is theirs and it contains the information that they provided when given to the ee.

I find the physician's help is willing to verify something the ee provided to us rather than being concerned about the disclousre of HIPAA protected information. If the attorney "dawgs" have their way they will soon have that door closed to us, too.

PORK

njjel

Pork - Read up some and you will see that they did give me the info afterall. Surprise! Can't believe it.

Rockie

Don't be too surprised. I work for a medical practice and when I have occasion to go into other practices, I am often amazed at the HIPAA violations that I encounter. (Sign in sheets at the front with the name and reason for visit, etc.) It is indeed a violation for a physicians office to tell you if a person is or is not a patient in their facility.

I would think that faxing what the employee gave you with the request to verify that it did actually come from the office would be okay. You may or may not get an answer from them.

Employees are getting very savvy about these kinds of "rights" they now have and are getting creative on how to bend the rules to their satisfaction. I am not surprised that some are resorting to forgery.

njjel

Thanks for the responses. Now however, in light of the fact that the physician's office did give me the info but should not have, may it be used to discipline/terminate the employee?

Balloonman

Food for thought............ How can HIPAA apply if the person never came in and is in fact forging the note? There is no privacy to protect. :-)
Think about it.

My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman

deniseE

According to recent court rulings, the answer seems to be "yes". But, having just been through it, I would encourage you have as much documentation in writing as possible. It would have made our case go much more smoothly..

i mistyped in my earlier post. UC was granted by the referee since the forgery could not be proven by us...had the ee lost and appealed it could have been worse for us...since the bar of evidence gets greater.

We developed a new policy as a result of this case...no HR staff is to call a dr's office for information, unless the ee has provided written authorization...and even then, we want all medical related responses to be in writing.

The EE just filed an EEOC complaint stating that we discriminated against her because of her disability...and that she was wrongly terminated because we can't prove that she forged the document. xx( especially since the medical practice is now backing her up. We believe since they talked to us (and essentially violated HIPPA) they are concerned that she'll sue them too, so they're going along with the game.

njjel

I like the suggestion to fax the doctor's note to the office and ask if this is in fact a genuine note. I would think that it would be a good idea to have a phone conversation with the office manager of that office prior to faxing the note so that he/she knows it is coming. I am thinking I will do this even though I have already received a verbal denial of the note due to the suggetions given above.

Crout

But Denise, you're comparing apples to oranges. Your EE had a relatioship with that particular physician and so HIPAA would apply. As DJ pointed out, according to njjel the EE was NOT a patient and so how can HIPAA protect a private relationship when that relationship does not exist?