Pastor's  Page

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Recently, two events have caused my staff and me to reconsider how and what information we communicate to the membership and those who receive our communiqués. 
The first event was an attempt to find a member whom we had heard had been moved from one nursing home to another.  When we inquired, one nursing home said that they could neither confirm nor deny that our member was in residence there.

The second event was an email we received from a concerned member who was troubled about the personal information we sometimes include in our communiqués.

Both of these events invoked HIPAA, (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996).  As one who does not work in the health care industry but is in the whole person well-being vocation, my ability to do my job as I see it is often stymied by agencies who defer to HIPAA over every request. 
If you have never read the law, allow me give you a couple of highlights that are pertinent here: it applies to "covered entities" which include healthcare providers, insurers and their business associates and is the law that protects the transmission of "protected health information" also known as PHI.  PHI generally refers to demographic information, medical histories, test and laboratory results, mental health conditions, insurance information, and other data that a healthcare professional collects to identify an individual and determine appropriate care. This protection became an issue with the advent of the internet and the electronic transmission and sharing of PHI between covered entities, and the selling of and hacking of the same information.  So this is an important law for the benefit of all citizens of the United States.

Having said that, the church and its pastors are not "covered entities" and we have no interest in the details that law was set up to protect; we have no access to the data bases and no ethical church or its pastor would sell the information if he or she had it.  This is not the problem.

Pastor Duane A. Jesse

Sermons

Worship Notes

It has always been my policy to ask members directly if they want general information about their condition or situation shared with the congregation.  Sometimes the members give an emphatic "Yes, I need the congregation's prayers!" for their particular situation, and sometimes members tell me to limit the information to basic details like "is hospitalized" or "is at home recovering" or "requests your prayers".  Sometimes they request I keep their issue to myself.  I always do as requested.

Why am I bringing this to you now?  I am so glad you asked.  Back to the two events that I mentioned at the beginning; though I despise HIPAA, my staff and I have taken the position that we will only add members (first and last name) who have requested or for whom we have received permission to be put on the prayer list, family of members indicating relationship (Mary, daughter of John Smith), and friends of members by first name only (John Smith's friend, Mary).  Requests for the congregation's prayers will be simply that and without detail.  If you require more information I would encourage you to call the person or a member of their family.

Additionally, prayer requests will be active for thirty days from the time of the request.  At the end of the thirty days, the request can be renewed.

I know this will irritate some members, in fact it already has.  It’s a new day and this is how I have discerned we need to live in it.  We can take comfort in knowing God hears our prayers and as the Apostle Paul wrote, Romans 8:26-27"the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

With you on the journey of faith,

The Rev. Duane A Jesse, Pastor

---

Subscribe to the Daily Word