...Administrative Ethics When it comes down to ethical issues involving administration, some aspects always seem to be overlooked. On May 17, 2011, Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar wrote an article for azcentral.com relating to the vulnerability of electronic medical records and its effects on patient privacy. In this document I will be discussing the issue on patient privacy and confidentiality. I will be touching base on the population it affects, arguments used within this article that support electronic medical records, ethical and legal issues involved. Along with the issues I will be discussing the managerial responsibilities and proposed solutions that may help in maintaining patient privacy under regulation that are being proposed within this article. The issue on patient privacy is nothing new and out of the ordinary within the health care field. According to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs the main purpose of a healthcare professional’s ethical duty is to maintain patient confidentiality and to allow the patient to be able to make a truthful disclosure of their personal information to the physician placing their trust that the physician will protect the confidential nature of the information disclosed. Unfortunately, physicians cannot entirely control the access to electronic medical records. If patients distrust and have the anxiety that their medical records will not be private, they might tend to tell their doctors less, or...
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...0735-7028/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0016853 Electronic Medical Records: Confidentiality Issues in the Time of HIPAA Margaret M. Richards Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital With the application of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the medical community, new issues arise for psychologists in keeping documented records of patient visits. Confidentiality limits have broadened, making use of the electronic medical record more complicated for the psychologist practitioner, particularly when serving as part of a multidisciplinary team. As the electronic medical record (EMR) has become more prevalent in multiple settings, various researchers have examined the effectiveness of this record keeping system, with a focus on improving patient outcomes. The risks and benefits of implementing an EMR will be discussed, focusing on specific considerations for psychologists in regard to confidentiality and interdisciplinary collaboration. Keywords: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), electronic medical record (EMR), confidentiality How much information is appropriate to place in an electronic medical record (EMR), especially when that record is accessible to professionals throughout an organization (i.e., a hospital setting)? This question has become an important topic of discussion and research as EMRs become more prevalent in larger institutions, such as academic medical centers and community mental health centers...
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...Running Head: Confidence in Confidentiality Ashley Cox Confidence in Confidentiality HCS 335 October 3, 2011 An interesting article about medical confidentiality for patients strikes the attention of many more patients in the waiting room of Doctor Zains office. The article was in a column of the poplar waiting room magazine called, Counselor”. The magazine is said to be for the addiction type professionals. The article that seemed to get the most attention from patients is called “Confidence in Confidentiality. The article talks about the privacy act for patients which is known as HIPPA, confidentiality regulations, and also briefly talks about different types of patient confidentiality situation. Confidential information is a main concern among patients; it is their medical information which is at stake here in their minds, but is that all that is at stake? The confidentiality privacy act is known as HIPAA, which is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This act was passed by congress to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to reduce costs and the administrative burdens of health care by improving efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system by standardizing the interchange of electronic data for specified administrative and financial transactions, To ensure...
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...This paper will identify Electronic Medical records, and how they benefit the patient, identify the values and importance of maintaining patient confidentiality, why the communication between consumers and providers should be effective, how electronic medical records differs from other communication, and how media and social networking change communication in health care. For many years, paper medical records were the only source of communication between health care providers. But, with the new wave of technology, the advancements of patient information from paper to electronic, providers have an easier and quicker way to retrieve the information for patients. Using the Electronic Medical records system, better known as EMR, versus paper charts is a positive and fulfilling change. An EMR is defined as “a type of clinical information system, which is dedicated to collecting, storing, manipulating, and making available clinical information that is important to the delivery of patient care. This can include computer based patient record systems, which may be comprehensive and cover virtually every avenue of clinical information pertinent to patient care, for example; laboratory data. The use of Electronic medical records is primarily used to document patients, medical information, check progress of care, test results, continued health maintenance, and the control of medication (Johnson 2010). EMR’s can improve the delivery of health care records, but also the technology has to...
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...Impact of Electronic Medical Records April 7, 2013 Technology has brought the world of medical services a long way throughout the years, including the introduction of electronic medical records (EMR). But does the use of the EMRs benefit patients or does it put patient confidentiality at risk? First, to understand the impact EMRs have on each and every one of us, understanding of EMRs is necessary. “An electronic medical record is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice”. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , 2012) EMRs allow medical providers to access information quickly and accurately. There are many benefits to using EMRs over paper copies, such as allowing providers to track data over time, identify patients who are due for preventive visits and screenings, monitor how patients measure up to certain parameters, and most importantly improve overall quality of care in a practice. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , 2012) Paper copies of medical records require enormous amounts of storage space to maintain compared to EMRs. Providers are required that records be retained for a certain amount of time. “Providers should keep health information for at least the period specified by the state's statute of limitations or for a sufficient length of time for compliance with laws and regulations”. (Donna M. Fletcher, Gwen Hughes, & Harry Rhodes, 2011) Physicians tend to have poor handwriting...
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...Health Care Consumer-Trends and Marketing 5/6/13 Yvette Thompson Electronic medical records are digital records of a patient’s medical information. This is helpful because if the patient has to go to another physician for some reason then his or her medical information can easily be transferred over without any issues. EMRs help to decrease the amount of paperwork that a patient has to deal with when visiting a physician’s office. It also helps the patient because it is a secure way to protect the private medical information that he or she discloses to the health care providers. EMRs are just as useful for the health care providers. Health care providers do not have to worry with paperwork as well. Easily transferable and easy to get to helps make the job of health care providers much easier. It has always been the duty of the physician to keep their patients’ confidences. Basically what this means is that the physician does not have the right to release any medical information given by the patient or discovered by a physician in connection with the treatment of a patient (“Patient Confidentiality”, 2013). In general, AMA’s Code of Medical Ethics states that the information disclosed to a physician during the course of the patient-physician relationship is confidential to the utmost degree, (“Patient Confidentiality”, 2013). A physician’s ethical duty to maintain patient confidentiality serves a purpose which allows patients to feel free to make a full and complete...
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...health care enhances the communication between patients, extended family members, immediate family and the primary medical provider of the patient. The one specific mode of communication that is utilized by consumers and health care provider’s main source of communication would be electronic medical records. The electronic medical records are very beneficial to the patient and his or her primary medical provider. The electronic medical records could also enhance communication skills between the patient and the physician. The electronic medical records took the place of paper records; also electronic medical records could protect the patient privacy concerning their medical history or current health evaluation. The electronic record will also prevent invasion of a patient privacy concerning their medical history, also the electronic medical history will prevent legal action for the primary medical provider. The electronic medical records will benefit the patient in several ways such as the improvement of a patient medical care, reduction in medical mistakes, and positive financial gain for the medical provider and their business or doctor office. An aspect relating to the values and importance of maintaining patient confidentiality when utilizing this mode of communication in the electronic medical records will focus on the patient privacy, confidentiality, security and respect for the patient. The privacy will...
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...Electronic Health Records Abstract Healthcare is growing every day and there are always new ways to improve. Electronic health record has been introduced to replace paper charts. Electronic health record is suppose to improve patient care, reduce cost, and prevent dangerous medical errors. There are many ethical considerations to consider with the electronic health record. With this technology there are pros and cons. I will address the pros and cons of electronic health record. Electronic Health Record Many hospitals and medical practices are transitioning from paper to electronic health records. Electronic health records (EHRs) have been available in one structure or another. However, the idea that patient medical records could be maintained on a personal computer is just starting to take hold in the general population. While some organizations already have electronic health records, some organizations still use paper medical records. In 2004 President George Bush mandated that organizations convert their medical records to an electronic version by 2014 (Bindell 2008). President Bush suggested that the use of electronic medical records my improve care, prevent dangerous medical errors, and reduce healthcare cost (Bindell 2008). Electronic health records may make healthcare services more efficient and safer because the provider would have the health history records including current medications and treatment diagnoses available to them when treating the patient...
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...counting such things to be as sacred secrets (Oath of Hippocrates, 4th Century, B.C.E.)”. Addressing issues pertaining to the privacy of a patient is not new to the medical arena. In the past the confidentiality between a patient and the doctor should have been taken seriously, however, was sometimes taken for granted, and information was passed to people with no need to know. In 1996 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) was legislated. Rules and regulations to guard patient privacy were brought to the forefront in the world of patient care. Safeguarding a patient’s electronic data continues to be a high emphasis in doctor/patient confidentiality. The issue that will be addressed in regard to violating patient privacy in this paper took place in a Minneapolis hospital in March 2011. The issue involved nearly 32 hospital employees who took it upon themselves to look up information on a number of patients who were part of a drug overdose incident. These employees were released from their positions at Unity Hospital, and Mercy Hospital in Allina, Minneapolis immediately after the violation was discovered. The discovered violation was deemed a HIPPA violation ("Allina Fires 32", 2011). The employees were released from their jobs when they electronically looked up records on a number of patients...
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...Services [DHHS], 2008). After Hurricane Katrina, our Nation discovered how easy it was to lose paper health care information. This catastrophic event showcased the value of a national electronic health care system that would keep medical records safe in the event of a natural disaster (Walker, 2005). I will examine the challenges my healthcare facility has faced in achieving the goals of this mandate, and what future plans are in place. In 2004 President George Bush created an executive order that would lay the foundation for a new health information technology infrastructure. This infrastructure would help improve health care quality, reduce medical errors, and increase effective exchange of health care information among health care providers. This system would also provide that Americans have access to electronic health records while keeping that information secure. The DHHS Synopsis informs us that (2008) “Underpinning that system is the ability for patients and providers to electronically share accurate health care information securely while protecting patient privacy” (p.1). This plan has two goals as described by the DHHS. The first is “Patient-focused Health Care: Enables the transformation to higher quality, more cost-efficient, patient-focused health care though electronic health information access and use by care provider and by patients and their designees” (DHHS, 2008). The second is “Population Health:...
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...Electronic Medical Records Megan Granger HCS/320 March 4, 2012 Lynn Belle What is Electronic Medical Records With the technology created, paper-based medical records have entered the state of existence. According to “Electronic Medical Records” (2005), “A patient record system is a type of clinical information system, which is dedicated to collecting, storing, manipulating, and making available clinical information important to the delivery of patient care. The central focus of such systems is clinical data and not financial or billing information. Such systems may be limited in their scope to a single area of clinical information (e.g., dedicated to laboratory data), or they may be comprehensive and cover virtually every facet of clinical information pertinent to patient care (e.g., computer-based patient record systems)." For over decades studies have been trying to create something for provider and patients to improve the communication between the two. Slowly each and every medical facility is switching from paper to electronic medical records, weighing out the inns and the odds (Electronic Medical Records, 2005). Impacting Communication in Healthcare Being one of the goals for creating and enforcing electronic medical records, communication has seen better outcomes. The electronic medical records systems contain availability to all notes, reports, lab work, and scanned documents. When a patient is communicating with the provider, all information what is said, is...
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...Henkels Patient Privacy Patient privacy has been a major issue within the healthcare field for many years. With the increasing use of medical information technology more and more people are being authorized to view patient health information. Not only do physicians and nurses have access; but this has broadened to include allied health professionals, billing specialists, quality assurance employees, social workers, medical records technicians etc... (Pendrak & Ericon, 1998). All of these healthcare professionals have a duty to take any steps necessary to protect the patient's right to privacy when it comes to their health information. Population Affected Patient privacy issues affect all healthcare professionals as well as anyone who seeks medical care. Patient confidentiality is the right of an individual to have personal, identifiable information kept private (E-notes, 2011). The protected health information should be only available to the physician of record unless an informed consent is signed by the patient giving permission for the medical professional to release the information. The informed consent consists of whom to release the information to and specifically what information is to be released. The increasing desire of healthcare organizations to attain medical information systems has broadened the amount of access to patient records. This opens up the risk of inappropriate use of patient records and may violate state or federal privacy laws. There are numerous...
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...are constant occurrences of ethical issues in the everyday behaviors. As health care administrators, we have responsibilities to ourselves, the organization, the patients, and our employees. The increasing information technology, which is the future, can be an ethical concern to administrators of the confidentiality of information on patients. Confidential information is private or privileged information, and should be that luxury. In health care, the confidential information that is stored into an information system, such as a patient health record, will need the ethical awareness, knowledge, and decision making skills of managing confidential information is the administrator’s responsibility. Managing confidential records will require the education of all staff within the facility. This would be the education on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. HIPAA and HITECH laws will be mentioned in this report as well as, an article from a local news station on a breach of patient confidential records, the issue and the impact is had on the population, the facts that are used to support the article and its solution, the ethical and legal issues for the administrative issue, the managerial responsibilities that are related to the administrative ethical issues, and the proposed solutions. Loma Linda University Medical Center Breach A local news station...
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...Hagler-Reid Administrative Ethics Paper Houston is home to one of the largest medical centers in the world that strictly uses Electronic Medical Records. With a medical center of this size patient privacy and confidentiality is extremely import and a constantly evolving aspect of health care. Since 2010 The Texas Medical Center has had 5 major breaches of security resulting in the unauthorized access to over 50,000 patients. According to the American Medical Association's (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, "The purpose of a physician's ethical duty to maintain patient confidentiality is to allow the patient to feel free to make a full and frank disclosure of information to the physician with the knowledge that the physician will protect the confidential nature of the information disclosed (AMA, 2003)." But physicians cannot completely control access to electronic records. If patients fear their records will not be private, they might tell their doctors less, or even refuse to seek care. The Health Privacy Project study of the homeless revealed that homeless patients would not go for care if certain information were requested (AMA, 2003). There are several different types of threats to patient privacy. Some are more severe than others. You have individuals that accidentally disclose information through innocent mistakes, individuals who have record access privileges that abuse this authorization, you also have individuals who access this...
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...administrative process. The administrative process became filled with new standards and requirements for the transmission of electronic health care information (Highmark, 2011). The enactment of the HIPAA law was designed to protect patients and their private health information known as PHI. Even though the intention was to improve the health care system while saving money it has become very costly if violated administratively. As a result of the HIPAA act the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needed to impose another act known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health act (HITECH) as a way of ensuring enforcement of HIPAA (HHS Press Office, 2011). This act allows Health and Human services to impose a civil monetary penalty (CMP) to reinforce the social and legal responsibilities of health care workers. The United States Department of Health and Human Services penalized Cignet Health management 4.3 million for violating the privacy rule set in place by HIPAA (HHS Press Office, 2011). According to Health and Human services the amount an organization is fined is based on the categories of the violations and the increased penalty amounts previously authorized by the HITECH act. Cignet Health management was penalized for violating the patients’ rights of 41 people by withholding access to their personal medical records...
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