Privacy is of the utmost importance within a medical practice, ethically a patient’s privacy is very important as a medical record contains information regarding a patient’s health. According to
While it is the responsibility of the health information management (HIM) department to cooperate with law enforcement in the event of a crime, this can still be achieved without a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) breach. HIM department managers must maintain protection of patient privacy when delivering reports to the public. In the case involving Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS), there were many causes of action the patient had against MHHS. Those include, but are not limited to, invasion of privacy, malpractice, defamation, negligence for improper disclosure and breach of confidentiality.
As a result of HIPPA Privacy Rules the processes of the healthcare has changed. The HIPPA Privacy Rule may now supersede state laws. At first the Privacy Rule was only a federal floor or minimum of privacy requirements so it does not preempt or supersede, stricter state statues or other federal statues. The word stricter refers to state and federal statues that provide individuals with greater privacy protection and gives individuals greater rights with the respect to their personal health information.
The Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA) of 1996 provides security provisions and data privacy for protecting a patient’s medical information. HIPAA has guidelines to ensure that a patient’s confidentiality is maintained while allowing the communication of a patient’s medical records between certain bodies or people or officials. Officials that a patient’s medical records can be shared with are other health care providers, health plans, business associates, and health care clearinghouses. HIPAA protects all “ individually identifiable health information”. There is a specific protocol to follow when sharing a patient’s medical information.
HIPPA Breaches A Common Legal Issue in Healthcare When it pertains to patient health information discretion is paramount. Protecting patients from threats that could endanger their rights is essential and the primary reason for safeguarding their personal information is to secure the interest of the individuals who are entrusting the organization with their information. There are however breaches to individuals’ private health information. In the healthcare field one common legal issue is HIPPA and data breaches.
These ethical obligations are what incluate the main responsibilities of the professional “regardless of the employment site, method of collection, storage, and security of health information.” A few of these obligations include but are not limited to; conserving and ensuring the convenience and integrity of confidential health information. As well as the development and maintenance of information systems. (AHIMA, 2011)
Healthcare providers and organizations are obligated and bound to protect patient confidentiality by laws and regulations. Patient information may only be disclosed to those directly involved in the patient’s care or those the patient identifies as able to receive the information. The HIPAA Act of 1996 is the federal law mandating healthcare organizations and clinicians to safeguard patient’s medical information. This law corresponds with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act to include security standards for protecting electronic health information. The healthcare organization is legally responsible for establishing procedures to prevent data
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a vital part of the health care industry’s day to day business. HIPAAs procedures define how healthcare companies receive and handle their clients’ health care information. HIPAA helps to protect the patient’s personal information through confidentiality and security procedures while being transferred, handled or shared with other healthcare providers (Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules, 2013). When a patient’s privacy is not regulated, third parties could buy and sell the information without the patients’ authorization. With HIPAA being in place, it prevents healthcare employees from divulging any patient information they
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.
HIPAA’s existence constituted as a necessary health care reform. This particular healthcare reform empowered patients by giving them more control and say over the handling of medical records. The HIPAA law also reshaped how health care providers handled patients’ medical records, especially concerning patient privacy (IHS, n.d.). Under the HIPAA law, the privacy rule includes the “national standards” that health care organizations must
Introduction HIPAA is the Federal Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and the security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs [1]. As an advocate for the patient, it is the nurses responsibility to maintain the patients privacy, confidentiality and security while providing care. Although can be very difficult in different circumstances, the nurse must maintain that standard of care where the patients fidelity is not compromised.
Patient Rights. Enactment of HIPAA enables patients in many ways by providing them a set of rights which include a right to be notified about the privacy practices of the covered entity they are dealing with, a right over control and access of their Personal Health Information(PHI), and to take legal action against an entity on encountering any HIPAA violation without facing threats of retaliation. Security Safeguards. The Security Rule of HIPAA provides a highly detailed series of requirements in terms of administrative, technical, procedural and physical guidelines, for securing the electronic Personal Health Information (ePHI). State Law.
HMOs, Medicare, and Medicaid: (b) health care clearinghouses, such as billing companies and third party administrators: (c) health care providers, such as hospitals and doctors. These regulations protect patient privacy by restricting disclosure of health information to the "minimum necessary" while also preventing unauthorized use by "downstream users." (Collins, 2007). In addition, the Federal laws, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and the California law requires us to protect the privacy and security of all patient health information. As an example for the enforcement of the regulations, the Department of Health and Services in Los Angeles County provides a mandated "Annual Nursing Core Competency" on the confidentiality of patient information as one of the topics.
Introduction Unfortunately, legal and ethical issues are prevalent among social workers that are attempting to provide effective care for individuals, specifically individuals who are within the mental health population. Examples of prevalence of legal and ethical issues are the Tarasoff I and Tarasoff II cases. The aforementioned cases sparked the infiltration of Tarasoff and the Duty to protect after Prosenjit Poddar murdered Tatiana Tarasoff, his romantic interests who he had became obsessed with. Tarasoff’s family members filed a lawsuit accusing mental healthcare professionals of negligence. The Tarasoff’s were allotted the ability to settle out of court, but no amount of money will bring back their loved one, who could have been potentially
Everything in the realm of medicine deals with the topic of confidentiality. The medical definition of confidentiality is, “The right of
