...original put in place in 2003 to help provide patients medical records to be protected, and to keep this information away from anyone except whom the patient want to have that information. Once HIPAA became the privacy law, the government had to produce a way for patient’s medical records to be safe and stay safe and confidential. This means electronically as well as the paper trail. Medical facilities had to devise a way to keep their medical records from computer hackers as well as make sure their system do not become infected with any viruses or malfunction. Even after HIPAA was put into effect, there were still the paper trail that medical offices had to make sure their files was kept locked and only certain people had access to it. The issues of today are maintaining patient’s privacy records and ethical considerations for the privacy sensitive health related materials. The main issue is the concern for keeping patients private information protected. The impact of this private information contains such information as social security numbers, birthdays, and drivers’ license as well as any other information that is involved in the patient’s medical records. The impact on the population is that basically anyone’s identity could be stolen, once this information has gotten out to the general public. While identity theft is a big issue, another big issue is that patient’s private medical information is at stake as well. People medical conditions could be revealed. Conditions such as...
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...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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...Running Head: PATIENT PRIVACY Patient Privacy By: University of phoenix Patient privacy has been a major concern for patients and medical staff for many years. Patient privacy goes hand in hand with HIPPA and the privacy rule. This protects the privacy of any person of all health information (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Even with this a concern for many, a study conducted by Zogby Internation studies more than 2000 adults to obtain their views on patient privacy. This studied determined that individuals would rather have individual choice and control over personal health information instead of others (Patient Privacy Rights, 2010). In the article written by Profacgillies, the issue is what really constitutes confidential information and access to sensitive data. These issues are very serious for many individuals. These issues affect the entire population that is identifiable. Even though there is no specific population that is affected, I believe that there are individuals who are more concerned about these issues. The population that has many medical records and medical information are more concerned about their confidentiality than others who have less information on their medical records (Profacgillies, 2009). There are legal and ethical responsibilities to keep personal patient information private. When its concerning legal issues, they are different from place to place; they are not the same at every facility...
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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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...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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...Administrative Ethics Paper Kelly N McCoy HCS/335 May 19, 2014 Melissa Green, MHA Administrative Ethics Paper Safeguarding patient privacy has been a serious problem even with current technology. Not only are “regular” patients at risk; celebrities and politicians are at a greater risk related to the current culture of social media, reality television, and the “need to know” attitude of today’s society. In the past ten years, serious issues with breeches in celebrity and politicians privacy and confidentiality have risen. For example, in 2013, the reality star Kim Kardashian’s and rapper Kayne West’s medical records were inappropriately accessed between June 18th and June 24th, after giving birth to a baby girl at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Associated Press, 2013). In order to ensure and safeguard patient privacy and confidentiality, issues related to breaching patient privacy must be addressed. This paper will address the following: 1. Background information in relation to the breach of Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s privacy. 2. Arguments or specifics used in the article to support the proposed solution. 3. Ethical and legal issues. 4. Managerial responsibilities related to administrative, ethical issues. 4. Solutions to reduce and prevent breaches in patient privacy. Last year, reality star Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s medical records were wrongly and unauthorized accessed by five employees of Cedar-Sinai Medial Center after the birth of their daughter (Associated...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper The journal article that I chose is about a case of privacy and confidentiality of health care employees in New Zealand and not the United States. Its relevancy though is just as important here as it was in New Zealand. New Zealand has a Privacy Act similar to the United States’ HIPAA. The article “Privacy, employees and human resources: a case report” (Mair, 2011) documents the release of an employee’s medical records to his employer, a New Zealand hospital and the resulting issues. Although administrators are highly cognizant of patient privacy and confidentiality, it can be easily overlooked when employees are involved. The article concerns an employee at a particular hospital who presented himself to that hospital’s Emergency Department for stress and anxiety connected to his employment there and his bullying and harassment by a particular nurse. He had made several complaints to the administration about this treatment by the nurse and nothing had been done. The nurse, Nurse X, who interviewed him, noted that he was at a low risk of harming himself or others. He also told Nurse X that he had submitted his resignation that day to the hospital. A doctor at the hospital assessed him and determined that he was of moderate risk to himself because the internalizing his anger could lead to suicide. He was transferred to another hospital where he was again evaluated and discharged the next day after as it determined that he was no longer experiencing...
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...Patient Privacy HCS/335 06/25/11 Virginia 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...
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...managers? What are some ethical issues to consider regarding HIPAA? Finally I will provide some examples of how HIPAA has changed the way the practice of health care and health information is managed. Health Information Portability and Accountability Act In 1996, the United States Congress enacted the Health Care Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. HIPAA was introduced as an act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 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 promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes. (Wikipedia) Health Information Managers play critical roles in their day to day work load to ensure compliance with regulations that pertain to the privacy and security of patients’ medical records and information. After the HIPAA was passed in 1996, these HIM professionals were introduced to a new and changing forefront of legislative and regulatory requirements when it comes to dealing with the wealth of personal and confidential information contained within a health care organization’s medical records. The purpose of HIPAA is to protect patients from the reality of their whole medical history and personal information...
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...Employees Fired Over Patient Privacy Violations Luanne D. Walters HCS/335 Ethics: Health Care and Social Responsibility February 29, 2012 Jacqueline Paik Employees Fired Over Patient Privacy Violations “Whatsoever things I see or hear concerning the life of men, in the attendance on the sick or even apart there from, which ought not be noised abroad, I will keep silence thereon, 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...
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...potential security risks related to health care. Patient privacy and medical document security are the main topics of this article. The article discusses the importance of provider confidentiality, proper handling of health information along with proposed solutions for potential security issues. There is a focus on the patients perception of what is considered to be protected. Loria points out that forty-five percent of patients are apprehensive about security gaps involved with their private health information (Loria, G., 2015). Protected Health Information: Patient Privacy Concern The potential breach in HIPPA, Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act of 1996, brings up several patient privacy concerns. One consideration is the method that the patient’s health data is distributed and utilized. Electronic health records are at risk of security breaches from hackers without adequate safety measure in place. According to Loria, (2015), “In January, health insurance provider Anthem discovered that hackers had broken into a database containing up to 80 million records. And just six months prior, Chinese cyber attackers stole personal information belonging to 4.5 million patients of hospital chain Community Health Systems.” There is not one demographic that is not affected when contemplating exposure of health care information. Potential breaches in access to medical records can affect anyone who seeks medical services. The...
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...Abstract: Developing medical software applications have been on the forefront these days because of a series of proposals President Obama has presented to American public within the stimulus package on modernizing our medical records to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) management. So far one can only understand that most of the existing medical software application was developed and probably designed by medical specialists that might not understand the total functionality of creating user friendly interfaces and a well secured application. Most software applications are can be so inflexible that when new ideas need to be implemented it becomes quite difficult to redesign. The complexity at hand now is designing an application that is secure as well as flexible to change. Not all medical offices are used for the same functionality so why not develop medical software applications for EMR that deliver and perform the same. Throughout this paper an approach will focus on addressing development of medical software application specific enough to meet a particular need, but general enough to be reusable across similar applications. Electronic Medical Records (ERM): development of medical software application Medical application design for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has increased over the past several years because our government and medical doctors are concerned about cost. These are key drivers of EMR and will continue to drive purchasing of EMR systems soon...
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...administrative issue that is arising in the newspaper regarding patient privacy is the ability to email your physician. While technology is constantly growing every day to ability to email your physician is more convenient and getting direct results is more convenient then awaiting his phone call but is this always the most ethical decision to make? Hackers breaks into computer systems each and every day even though the fire walls are built to reduce or eliminate occurrences that happen due to the growing technology this isn’t always the best decision. This issue goes hand and hand with the ability to have patient records stored electronically while this is currently present in most hospitals the issue that occur is that anyone have access to the patient records within and outside the hospitals and numerous of other locations. The ability to share patient’s records to other hospitals via online has decreased the patient privacy dramatically. I am going to get into the issue and its impact on the population it affects most. I’m going to get into different viewpoints arguments or facts that are used in the article to support the proposed solution. I’m going to get into some of the ethical and legal issues reported for my administrative issue. I’m also going to explain the managerial responsibilities related to administrative ethical issues. And lastly I am going to identify any propose solutions to this current administrative issue. The issue of being able to get medical advice from...
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...Ethical issues on confidentiality and privacy of patients According to American nursing association article regarding patients medical information’s privacy and confidentiality shows us “Advances in technology, including Computerized Medical Databases, The Internet and Tele-Health, have opened the door to potential, unintentional breaches of private /confidential information of patients, so nurses and other health professionals who regularly work with patients and their confidential medical records should contribute the development of standards ,policies and laws that protect patient privacy and confidentiality of health records .” Due to the fast advancement of technology, it is very hard to protect our privacy in the areas of medical sectors. Many people have access to patient’s medical records including the attending physician, house staff, student, consultant, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, billing staffs and insurance company employees. Although computerized medical records have vital roles to improve the access to medical information efficiently, they allow more serious breaches of confidentiality. For example, confidentiality can be violated at any computer station, and fax and e-mail also present opportunities for confidentiality to be broken. I think in my opinion, keeping medical information confidentially shows respect for patents that except physician to maintain confidentiality, and it plays a vital role in improving employees ethics at work. Furthermore,...
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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. With...
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