question about nurses on methadone

I work in a facility where we have a lot of patients who are addicts, recovering addicts, etc.

Sometimes we have nurses, former nurses, etc. as patients.

The question came up the other day.....if a patient comes into your facility and their medication list shows that they are on methadone, and that patient is also currently a working registered nurse....is that something you are supposed to report, or would it be a HIPAA violation to do so?

My personal opinion is that you could not report them. However, I empathize with people who have issues with addiction a lot more than I've found that some of my fellow nurses do. I can see some of my co-workers having an issue with this and trying to report it. I believe it would be a HIPAA violation to report a nurse for being on a prescribed medication when the only reason their use was disclosed is because you had access to their record which is entirely different than reporting a co-worker who you suspect is impaired.

What do you think?
I don't understand - what is there to report? A prescribed medication being used appropriately?Apparently there's an assumption inherent in your question that methadone is only ever used for addiction purposes. That is incorrect.So no, there is nothing to report.

The patient is prescribed methadone...nothing to report. And yes, I believe it would be a HIPAA violation to report it.I seem to recall giving methadone to an elderly patient that had chronic pain issues and other pain meds weren't helping.

I'm on the "don't report" train. Even if it is used for addiction (which would be impossible to tell from a pharmacy record), I still don't think it could be reported if the nurse is a patient.

No, you can't report it. However I'm with you in the sense that the nurse should be self reporting, and definitely not working while taking methadone. I wouldn't never even clear a patient to drive while taking methadone, much less work in an career like Nursing. If you want to work while taking methadone, be a greeter at wal-mart (and take the bus).

So your co-workers want to call a State agency and give out details of their patient's medical records? Maybe, and here I say maybe, if your co-workers knew of their patient's actual actions that were unsafe, maybe then they would have a justification but even then I would be super-cautious about violating their HIPAA privacy rights. Instead it seems your co-workers want to call and report details of patient's medical records when the patients are being compliant with a prescribed treatment. Should the nurses be working on methadone? Nurses working while on opiates has been a hotly debated topic on this board. I don't believe the answer is clear-cut but I do believe these nurses have HIPAA privacy rights.

My hospital has strict policies against any of us even working with PO benadryl on board.

Quote from jmll1765The patient is prescribed methadone...nothing to report. And yes, I believe it would be a HIPAA violation to report it.I seem to recall giving methadone to an elderly patient that had chronic pain issues and other pain meds weren't helping.