#EmploymentLaw #DoctorsNoteVerification #HIPAACompliance
Hey everyone! 👋 So, I had an interesting situation with an employee calling in sick and bringing in a questionable doctors note…
Here’s the scoop:
– Note was on plain notebook paper 📝, no letterhead or contact info 🤔
– Wanted to verify if the employee actually saw a doctor 🩺 without violating HIPAA
– Need to ensure employee can safely work with food 🍔
Possible solutions to consider:
– Request a proper doctors note with letterhead/contact info
– Contact HR for guidance on how to handle these situations
– Seek legal advice on the best course of action
Has anyone else dealt with a similar issue? What did you do in this case? Let’s discuss! 💬 #WorkplaceChallenges #EmployeeHealth #VerificationProcess
The easier thing to do might just be to not accept the janky note. Tell the employee they aren’t allowed to come back to work until you get a doctor’s note on proper letterhead.
You can either ask for a different note, or tell the employee to call the doctor’s office and give them permission for you to call and verify the note was from them.
I would confirm any number you are given with an independent source like the doctor’s website.
You are allowed to ask, but no office would give you the requested information without a medical release.
My attorney has me give employees a medical release form (giving the doctors permission to release that specific information to me) and our form with our specific requests.
Although we only use that when accommodations are needed; never had anything like your experience happen to me! Usually we just get a discharge note on medical center letterhead. Because you are right — these notes are SO common that pretty much every health care provider has an automated system to generate those letters.
Yes, you can simply call and ask if you can verify a note given to one of your employees. In the past, I had been asked to scan it to them and they will verify if it was printed or sent from their office. It will be a yes or no, and sometimes depending on the specifics, they can tell you if it’s the correct date or signature etc… without violating HIPPA.
As a health care provider – let me tell you that I would not verify anything in a phone call from someone’s employer. It would be a HIPAA violation.
I would also never use a janky piece of notebook paper to make a “doctor’s note.” I have letterhead and a pre-printed form for that.
Tell the employee that you need a doctor’s note on letterhead or you can’t accept it.
There are 2 likely scenarios here:
1) they were sick, but there was no need to go to a doctor, or they cant afford it.
2) they are a bad employee that just wanted to take the day off.
Any workplace requiring doctors notes is doomed to high turnover even for legit sickness.
If the note looks fake, give them a pass with a warning, then start with the demerits or no show counts and move on.
The doctors office should not/will not give out any patient information to you
But also requiring notes is bad practice. It puts a financial burden on the employee and also burdens a chronically overwhelmed healthcare system.
There’s also a bunch of websites where you essentially pay to get a doctors note because of requirements like this. So even if you get a note from a real doctor, it doesn’t necessarily mean they actually saw or diagnosed your employee
Ask her to bring in a letter that has a letter head on it
RN here. They cannot legally give patient information. However, you can call them and let them know you’re faxing over a note the patient brought in and can they verify that is what their notes look like.
I once had an employer call about a similar situation. She sent me the note. I called her back and said, “ while I cannot confirm or deny that person was seen in our ER, I can let you know there is no doctor by the name on this note that works at our hospital.
You can confirm the note is real, that is about it.
All of my daughters drs notes for herself and my job say “please call with any questions” and has the number and contact name of the secretary.
Chances are it isn’t a real note.
BUT does your job provide insurance? They might not have been able to afford going to the dr on top of missing work already.
I had to quit a job when I was a 19 year old single mom bc I missed 2 shifts and couldn’t afford to go to the dr to get a note.. I wasn’t sick enough to need an actual Dr, most things drs can’t help with anyway- but was too sick to work.
They might not be lying about getting sick, they could be lying about the note.
Tell them that the note needs to be on official letterhead. With the physicians name printed on the paper, along with their affiliation (the office), address and phone number. I would not necessarily jump to the idea it was fraudulent. Doctors hate doing notes cause it’s literlaly not in their scope of practice (source: married to a doctor who tells me that almost dailu). I had a doctor write a note for my mother to take back to her nursing home to state she needed OTC eye drops 4/day for dry eyes. He hand wrote it on a piece of notebook paper, right there in front of me. Of course, the nursing home didn’t accept it. I haven’t a clue what he was thinking and I clearly wasn’t or I would have asked for something else before I left the office that day. I suppose in his mind it wasn’t a prescription, so it was no big deal. It was weird…but things happen.
You heed to ask your employee for a note that meets the standard. A doctors office cannot even acknowledge that he is a patient without his permission.
I get doctors notes at work all the time. They are never addressed or sent to my office. They are generally addressed “to the employer” or even addressed to the patient for them to bring in. If they are even addressed.
Never had a handwritten one.
Ask for a more formal note from employee, on letterhead.
All the ones I’ve ever seen are on letterhead. Doctors do them all the time so it’s set up that way.
The notes just say that the patient was unable to attend with for (date range) due to a medical issue. Or that they attended the clinic on x date. Legally the doctor doesn’t have to say why you were there (and your employer can’t ask – or they can but you don’t have to answer).
Our other option is a statutory declaration that is witnessed by the appropriate person if it’s no more than 2-3 days. This is a legal document that you’d have to stand up in a court of law and say is correct or you’re committing perjury (which comes with other legal issues).
NAL but I work in HR. I call and validate doctors notes all the time. I have never had an office tell me they couldn’t. Every time I felt the note was suspicious and called the office listed I was able to validate the note was forged. I have seen a lot of fakes over the years.