Patient Confidentiality

Electronic Health Records and Patient Confidentiality
Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or

Confidentiality and data breaches are a few of the main concerns, as many providers become neglectful when sharing patient electronic health information.
Current use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has proven to be helpful for hospitals and independent medical practice to provide efficient care for patients. Balestra reports that using computers to maintain patient health records and care reduces errors, and advances in health information technology are saving lives and reducing cost (Balestra, 2017). As technology advances EHR are going to continue to be the main method of record keeping among medical providers. Therefore, staff and medical providers need to be trained on how to properly share patients EHR safely and in a secure form in order to maintain patient confidentiality. As records were shared electronically rules were implemented for clinicians to follow known as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule ,2013). These rules were implemented for clinicians to protect the

There will be patients that dislike the EHR and prefer the old fashion paper system as they believe that to be a safest way to store information. Ethical and social implications of Electronic Health records are not limited to, hacking, provider’s neglect of loosing laptops with patient confidential information, leaving other patient records up while a different patient is in the room. Insufficient training for staff as many staff may not be properly trained in implementing HIPPA which compromises patient’s privacy. Over worked staff may input wrong information in the EHR such as inaccurate spelling and recording of patients’ name and current medication history. Lastly authors Sharma and Aggarwal state that “There are four major ethical priorities for EHRS: Privacy and confidentiality, security breaches, system implementation, and data inaccuracies.” (Jamshed, Ozair, Sharma, & Aggarwal, 2015). In the future paper records will become a thing of the past thus, better training and accountability from providers is an essential part to protecting patients EHR and confidentiality. Electronic