SPHL Mississippi RiverKings

Hockey Spotlight: Reporting Injuries

November 19, 2003 - SPHL (SPHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


SOUTHAVEN, Miss – Amid the pageantry and competition of a sports environment, there is always an unfortunate and dangerous foe lurking in the background. This foe often strikes when least expected, leaving fans holding their heads and teams changing strategies out of necessity.

The matter of injuries in sports is a very real one, and something that every team, be it high school, college or professional, must deal with on a case-by-case and week-by-week basis.

Many fans, out of concern for the welfare of their favorite players and the well-being of their favorite teams, often find themselves clamoring for information about the medical status of a player. It would seem very logical that those with a vested interest in a sports club would want as much information as possible about a player's injury. But at what point does too much information become a bad thing?

THE HIPAA LAWS

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a law passed by the United States Congress, was designed to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage while limiting waste and corruption that was rampant within the system at the time.

The act covers several areas of health insurance coverage, from treatment procedures to movement of coverage across state lines. It also included specific language regarding a patient's right to confidentiality in matters of personal health and medical diagnosis.

When one dissects this language to its most basic level, one learns that any person, be they private citizen, public figure, or professional athlete, has a right to privacy when it comes to the diagnosis of injury or illness. Unless that person chooses to waive their rights, their medical information is considered off-limits to disclosure.

The penalty for such disclosure can be severe. Federal guidelines strongly suggest that any person or organization found to have unlawfully obtained or disclosed HIPAA-protected medical information be fined a minimum of $50,000 and imprisoned for no more than one year. Malicious or willful violations of this statute carry even harsher penalties.

Yet even with these laws, sports fans will often hear injury information disclosed regarding players. So one might ask, "How is it that any player medical information is ever learned by the public?."

PRELIMINARY REPORTING

For most professional sports teams, the business of reporting injuries is done prior to an official diagnosis ever being made. This process, known in some circles as preliminary reporting, is not covered under the HIPAA guidelines because of the lack of official diagnosis at the time the information is disclosed.

"(HIPAA) doesn't change things tremendously,'' said Bill Pierce, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The only potential change is that now, empowered by HIPAA, an athlete can withdraw permission for teams to discuss an injury with the public on a case-by-case basis. What this means for the average fan is probably little or no change in what you hear from pro leagues, who already rely mostly on vague injury reports. Colleges, though, unbound by any NCAA standardized policy, are left to do what they see fit. And most colleges have taken a very broad interpretation of the HIPAA rules, so much so that many now refuse to disclose any information about an athlete's medical condition.

COMPETITIVE EDGE

If questions of legality and confidentiality are the side dishes in this issue, then questions regarding competition and keeping an advantage over one's opponent are the main course.

"You never want to let your opponent know what injury a player has, or how long a player will be out," says RiverKings Head Coach Jim Wiley. "That is the very sort of information that can give your opponent a competitive edge over you."

The grim reality of the sport is that any weakness in one's opponent is not only considered fair game, but is often exploited for a team's gain. When that weakness involves injury, a player's health and personal safety can be put into serious peril.

Wiley, a veteran of numerous hockey seasons as both a player and a coach, offers an example.

"Say, for instance, that you have a player with a broken thumb who is still able to play," he says. "If a team were to turn around and indicate in a press release or through other means that the player in question was playing with a broken thumb, you can bet that the opposing team will start taking whacks at that player's hand throughout the game.

"It then becomes more than a matter of keeping health records confidential – it becomes a matter of trying to keep a player's injury from becoming far more serious than it already is."



SPHL Stories from November 19, 2003


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