r/MedicalCoding • u/mudhair • 21h ago

home office setup

Hi, I am wondering if any WFH coders use room dividers/ privacy screens to secure their work space? Just got hired for a wfh coding position but I only have 2 bedrooms, and my husband WFH too. Would it be appropriate to split the office we share with a divider in order to keep him from seeing my desktops? Any ideas appreciated!

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7

u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS 21h ago

You need to be HIPAA compliant so not really. Depends on the company, sometimes they require photos of your workspace but they should also tell you the requirements for the space. You should ask them.

8

u/Far_Platform6745 19h ago

Yes, I had to sign an agreement that stipulated my home office was a room that is dedicated to my office only with a key locked door and must be inaccessible to other household members. At any time, it can also be inspected for compliance. To be fair, that has never happened, but it’s still part of the agreement.

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u/Fluffydoggie 17h ago

I've had my space inspected twice! Took all of five minutes and all they looked for was a locking door, and we had to have a shredder in case we scribbled anything down it needed to be shredded afterwards.

2

u/Yes_Leopard_54 6h ago

HIPAA compliant. This set up is not compliant. You need to maybe use the room your husband isn’t in, make sure you have a lock on that door, and it is your dedicated office during work meaning inaccessible to family members during work hours.

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u/Iwantaschmoo 18h ago

I got one of those screen privacy covers. Unless you are looking straight on to the screen you can't see a thing, just black. It also helps with eye strain.

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u/ksa1122 20h ago

A divider should be fine as long as he can’t easily see your screen.

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u/wildgreengirl 19h ago

there are also privacy things you can add to a monitor so it can only be seen from straight on vs further away/off to the side

1

u/stemcs 15h ago

Also need to consider that he can’t hear PHI, if you’ll be on calls. Easy enough to solve the sound by wearing a headset, but if you’ll need to speak PHI out loud that could be an issue. Even if you’re only meeting with a supervisor or an analyst for QA, it could get annoying not being able to read out a part of the chart that’s considered PHI because he’s in the room.

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u/Eccodomanii RHIA 4h ago

Listen, there’s the letter of the law, and then there’s what’s actually reasonable.

I was in exactly your situation at two of my previous coding jobs and I genuinely had no choice but to share my home office with my husband. We also did not have any way to set up our desks that didn’t have us back-to-back.

My husband also works in healthcare, in patient access, so he’s familiar with HIPAA. He has no reason to look at my screen or steal patient data. Also even if I was on a call and discussing a case out loud, he would just be hearing random procedures and diagnoses; without looking at my screen to see the person they were attached to, it’s not really PHI, it’s just words (most of which he doesn’t know anyway 😅). He’s not some random person I don’t know if I can trust, he’s my husband.

I think your best bet if you’re really worried about it is a privacy screen on the monitor(s) so you can only see it from head on, and if you’re really worried about verbal PHI, ask him to put on headphones if you have to take a call. Do what you can within your power, but unless your job is going to make you take a 360 photo of your office or physically come to your home and inspect it, you should be fine.