Employer-paid nurse at worksite - Is the nurse a health care provider under HIPAA?

[Guest cstrong]

Here is the situation: We employ a nurse in-house solely for the benefit of employees. We are not in the health care business and the nurse is not affilated in any way with our health plan. If she only uses faxes and voice messages (in additional to paper) when performing her job, will she be considered a "covered entity," specifically, a health care provider who transmits health information in "electronic form" as defined in 164.102? It doesn't appear that "electronic form" is defined in the privacy rule, and I'm not sold on relying on the definition of "electronic media" in 164.103 which excepts fax and voice messages.

I appreciate any and all thoughts!

[Steve72]

Well, remember that it's not enough for the provider to transmit health information electronically, they must do so in connection with a covered transaction. Does this employee perform any transactions that would be covered under the EDI rules?

i,e., does she perform any of the following transactions electronically:

Claims, health care payment or remittance advice, coordination of benefits, health care claim status, enrollment/disenrollment in or eligibility for a health plan, health plan premium payments, referral certification and authorization, first report of injury or health claims attachments?

[Guest cstrong]

Yes she does - the first report of injury is what trips us up.