...Administrative Ethics Paper Tammy Gillespie University of Phoenix HCS 335 Webb Jones July 18, 2011 Administrative Ethics Paper Health care is among the most personal services rendered in our society today however to deliver this care a large amount of personnel must have access to intimate patient information. Maintaining confidentiality is becoming more difficult. The need to protect patient confidentiality is evident in legal restrictions imposed by state laws and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) and was recently amended under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.(politifact, 2011). Physicians have always had a duty to keep their patients confidence. This means that a physician or any administrative person may not disclose any medical information revealed by a patient or discovered by a physician in connection with the treatment of a patient. As explained by AMA’s 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 confidentiality nature of the information disclosed. (AMA, 2009). Maintaining patient confidentiality is a legal duty as well as an ethical duty. A physician’s legal obligations are defined by the US Constitution, by federal and state law and regulation...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Sarah Falsey HCS/335 October 8, 2012 Leah Alexander Administrative Ethics Paper The topic chosen was Massachusetts General Hospital. This paper will go over the issue and its impact. It will also include arguments or facts to support the proposed solution. We will also touch on the ethical and legal issues involved with the release of 196 patients’ medical information. The issue is that 196 patients’ records at the hospital’s Infectious Disease Associates Practice were left by an employee on the subway. These records contained names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, health insurers and their policy numbers, diagnosis, and names of their providers for 66 patients. The Infectious Disease unit treats people with HIV/AIDS, as well as other infectious diseases. The records were never recovered and were lost on March 9, 2009. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a 1 million dollar fine against the Massachusetts General Hospital because of that breach of patient privacy. The HIPAA privacy rule clearly states that health care providers are required to protect the privacy of patient information through administrative, physical and technical defenses. Massachusetts General agreed to fix this and to take actions to prevent this from happening in the future. They agreed to implement a set of policies and procedures regarding what information is removed from the hospital, training all employees on this procedure, and labeling the...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Administrative Ethics Paper The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing has a current article named “Caring for Patients While Respecting Their Privacy: Renewing Our Commitment”. The basis of the article concerns the ethical and legal issues concerning the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” otherwise known as (HIPPA). This law has impacted the healthcare industry and the way in which healthcare workers conduct themselves with patients, their families, and with one another. In nursing the importance of confidentiality has always been the forefront of patient care. The current Code of Ethics for Nurses (ANA,2001) is clear in its intent and meaning as it relates to the nurses primary role in promoting and advocating patient’s rights relating to privacy and confidentiality. Every nurse has always understood the need for patient confidentiality even before (HIPPA) was law. Truth being with advanced technology, new demands in healthcare, and recent developments in the world at large has made it more difficult to keep this promise. But keep it they must. As healthcare workers on any given day we hear and see private and confidential information, it is our duty to protect it. On occasion we do become comfortable with patient’s medical information that it can be easy to forget that as healthcare workers how important it is to keep information secure and private. Thus, a recommended solution to this issue is to recap the -privacy section...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Michelle Domo HCS/ 335 January 22, 2011 Bob Vella Administrative Ethics Paper The issue that I researched happens to be a case study about patient privacy and confidentiality. The issue does not impact a population but it does affect hospital staff and personnel. This administrative issue is dealing with three Nurses Michele, Jackie, and Karen which all work at the same hospital. Michele is a MPN which stands for master’s prepared nurse and she has been in administration for three years. Jackie is a BPN which stands for bachelor’s prepared nurse and she has worked in a hospital setting for several years after completing college. Lastly, Karen is the nursing administrator of the flexible staffing pool and Karen happens to be a colleague of Michele’s also in most cases they often had conflicting opinions on issues related to quality care. Jackie is 43 years old and after she graduated college she and her husband decided it was best for her to be a stay at home mom until her two daughters was old enough to attend school. Jackie did work with in home care part time and she found it quite satisfying to be there with her children and such. Her husband informed her that their savings for their children college education was not per say keeping pace with their tuition. Her husband asked Jackie to increase her work time but for her that was going to be quite stressful because she really enjoyed the time she had to spend with the kids. So he decided...
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...head: ADMINISTRATIVE ETHICS PAPER Administrative Ethics Paper Ethics: Health Care and Social Responsibility Administrative Ethics Paper This particular case takes place in Kansas. A doctor Ann Kristin Neuhaus performs abortions on patients that are mentally ill. She tests the patients along with a colleague and diagnoses them. This case was brought to court from complaints filed against Dr. Neuhaus by the president of an anti- abortion group Operation Rescue, Troy Newman (AP). The doctor gave mental exams to patients ages ten to eighteen and if they had mental illness an abortion took place in her office. In her eyes she was helping these young women. And it did not matter if the pregnancy was in its latest trimester she would still perform the abortion. Many anti- abortion groups and legal officials disagreed with the medical decisions that where being made concerning this particular group of patients so they researched and found fault in the activities and the measures taken to find the patients adequate willing and accepted. The governor, judge and anti- abortion groups not wanting these types of procedures and mental health testing going on in their town of Topeka, Kansas, Dr. Neuhaus and Dr. George Tiller had no chance in court. In this article there are arguments of which Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus and Dr. George Tiller was simply using a computer program to diagnose the patients with mental health illnesses in order to perform abortions. An administrative judge...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Tiffany Wilson HCS/335 March-Monday, 2015 Maria Soohey Administrative Ethics Paper HIPAA is a big issue now a day, even more so when you talk about electronic records, you have both good, and bad, but how much does the good out weight the bad. I mean you have the comfort of any provider being able to look at what was done, and where you treatment is heading. This will prevent you from starting every doctor’s visit with a long history; it can be reviewed before you get there. But, then you have to look at the fact that you have hackers and people trying to find ways to steal someone’s identity. So, putting this information out there would this not make it easier for them; I mean how secured can your life be? At Howard University Hospital there were two different incidents where patient’s privacy was violated. A medical technician was charged for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPPA. This technician used her position for over seventeen months accessing patients’ names, address and Medicare numbers in order to sell their information. The other incident was when a contractor working with the hospital had downloaded the patients’ files onto their own laptop. In the end their laptop goes stolen from their car and the password protected laptop was hacked into and patients’ information like their Social Security numbers and other personal information were in the wrong hands. According to Howard University’s...
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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 HCS/335 Introduction This technological era has yielded many awesome and innovative products that have been a great benefit to the health care industry. Unfortunately, there have been areas in which the technological advances have backfired on health care providers and patients alike. Describe the issue and its impact on the population it effects most. Caitlyn Dewey of the Washington Post wrote an article that sheds light on one such issue: protecting patients’ information from the internet. The article outlines the increasingly horrendous trend called medical gore, “graphic, bloody images from surgeries, accidents and morgues, passed around Youtube, Imgur and more shadowy sites not for educational or training purposes, but for the macabre titillation of amateurs” (Dewey, 2014). It seems that frequently clinical staff, including doctors and nurses, take these digital images of these patients and share them with other people. While much of the gore comes from other countries with less strict patient protection laws, it is not uncommon in the United States. According to Dewey, there is a large gathering of people who “enjoy the bloody mess” (2014, p.2). The medical gore trend entails taking expository pictures of patients in extremely vulnerable positions. One such patient is described in the article as being horrified at the discovery. She was notified that a picture of her recent suicide attempt, where she stuck two pencils in her eyes, had...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper One of the largest problems in the health care industry is patient privacy. Many different and potentially serious issues can arise from violating a patient’s privacy. Not too many years ago, there was no specific law that protected patient rights and privacy. In August of 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), was created by former President Bill Clinton (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The HIPPA Act includes provisions for health insurance portability, fraud and abuse control, fax related provisions, group health plan requirements, revenue offset provisions and administrative simplification requirements (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The act was put in place to help create a standard that will protect patient’s medical records and personal health records nationwide. This act will help healthcare workers keep better control of patient’s information. HIPPA has a privacy rule that concerns health plans; the rule provides healthcare workers information on how to transmit individual’s health, vision, prescription, and any type of medical information safely. This essay will describe how Rite Aid pharmacy informs patients of how their personal information is disclose and protected against violations of their rights. And ensure them that their information continues to stay protected and all HIPPA privacy law is followed. Recently, Rite Aid Pharmacy released an article concerning...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Lana Jordan HCS/335 Jeannette Orr November 17, 2014 Administrative Ethics Paper Introduction Advancements in health care technology have made it increasingly difficult for an organization to maintain the safety of patients’ medical records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) Privacy and Security Rules. Even after providing education to health care workers on proper HIPPA practices, there continues to be intended and unintended breaches especially in hospital settings. In 2010, New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) and Columbia University (CU) health care system was under investigation for an accidental release of electronic medical records for 6,800 individuals. The incident impacted the health care industry because it was largest HIPPA settlement to date. At the time, U.S. News and World Reports NYP health care system as number one in the state and number six in the nation. The HIPPA Privacy Rule protects the “privacy of individually identifiable health information”; while the HIPPA Security Rule “sets national standard for the security of electronic protected health information”, and the HIPPA Breach Notification Rule requires business to notify of a “breach of unsecured protected health information” (HHS, 2014). Basically these rules are to protect the privacy of the patients’ health information. It says who can look at and receives information about the individuals. It gives the patients reassurance...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper In today’s society many physicians are not equipped to manage the health care concerns of gay and lesbian patients because of inadequate education received while completing their medical education. In this paper the subject to be examined is the issues related to gay and lesbian health care and examine a study performed by the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School and Rhode Island hospital evaluating how supplementary education may contribute to an increased level of readiness and concern by physicians when dealing with gay and lesbian patients and their medical, psychological and sexual issues. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) discontinued the labeling of homosexuality as a mental disorder and in 1975 the APA urged psychologist to work toward removing the stigma attached to homosexuality leading to many changes in therapeutic practices and the mental health community began treating the problems of gay and lesbian patients, rather than treating the gay or lesbian patient as the problem. Sexual orientation is one of the largest problems in society today. One of the ethical concerns in treating this population of people is with the health care providers themselves. When a health care provider is treating gay and lesbian patients, he or she must confront his or her beliefs and values when dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Treating a gay or lesbian patient becomes extremely difficult when he...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Balancing the access to health data and privacy has caused a dramatic increase in the types of microdata, and this directs great expectations for health services research. Legislative attempts to protect individual privacy reduces the flow of health care data for research purposes and increases costs and delays, and this affects the quality of analysis. The journal provides a summary of the challenges that data confidentiality raises concerning health services research, the current methods used to ensure data security, and a description of one successful concept to balancing access and privacy. The analysis of these issues of access and privacy using a conceptual framework based on balancing the risk of re-identification with the utility associated with data analysis. The primary goal should be to generate released data that are as close to the maximum acceptable risk as possible. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other privacy measures are considered having had the effect of lowering the ‘‘maximum acceptable risk’’ level and interpreting the data that is unable to be released. The journal discuss the levels of risk and utility associated with different types of data used in health services research and the ability to link data from multiple sources as well as current models of data sharing and their limitations. One particularly compelling approach is to establish a remote access ‘‘data enclave,’’ where statistical...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Natalie Hires HCS/335 Jodie Ausloos April 22, 2010 One of the major current issues in healthcare these days is affordability. With the rising health care costs it is causing the cost of health insurance to be unreachable to a lot of people and families. With the rising costs of health care it is forcing health insurance companies to raise their prices and stipulations for their clientele. This is causing a lot of health insurance companies to turn potential clients down for reasons such as pre-existing conditions, so not only are potential clients being turned down but they also are unable to afford the monthly insurance premiums. The rising health care costs is not only affecting these families who are unable to afford insurance but it is also going to eventually put health insurance companies out of business due to the lack of clientele buying their insurance policies. According to the article I found on health pac online, more than forty seven million people in the United States of America do not have health care insurance and sadly nine million of those people are children. There are Medicaid programs out there to assist low income families to at least provide their children with the necessary health insurance that they need. According to the article the reason why there are so many children without insurance is because their parents simply do not know about the available programs in...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper HCS 335/Ethics: Health Care and Social Responsibility June 10, 2012 Administrative Ethics Biomedical ethical issues are seen frequently in the news and are in constant scrutiny. The demand for social responsibility is high and available resources are limited. Healthcare leaders are faced with numerous administrative issues regarding patient privacy, research, confidentiality, and terminal illness. Much debate has surrounded medical spending on the terminally ill, such as the cost and allocation of resources toward end-of-life care. Choosing between prolonged life and quality of life are two seemingly difficult decisions to make. Nonetheless, it is difficult to base one’s opinion until cancer has taken over one’s life. A close look at administrative issues surrounding end-of-life care will demonstrate the impact on a population, ethical and legal implications, potential solutions to the problem, and managerial responsibilities. Impact of Ethical Issue on the Population The Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) is a part of the United States territory since its establishment of commonwealth in political union and is home to approximately 44,000 people (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Because of the increase in chronic diseases and lack of available resources, several residents are referred to go off the island to seek health care in Guam and Hawaii (Doty, 2012). However, the medical referral program has a crucial problem with financing...
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...Administrative Ethics Paper Tammy Guay HCS/335 November 21, 2011 University of Phoenix Administrative Ethics Paper There are many issues that may arise in concern to a patient’s privacy. There were no specific laws years ago that protected a patients privacy and rights. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) which was signed in August of 1996 which became a law under President Bill Clinton (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act includes provisions for: health insurance portability, tax- related provisions, fraud and abuse control, revenue and offset provisions, group health plan requirements, and administrative simplification requirements (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The HIPPA act was put into place as a standard law used to protect a patient’s personal health and medical records nationwide. This act was created to help health care workers to keep better control of a patient’s personal information. HIPPA has a privacy rule that concerns an individual’s health plans; the rule helps to provide health care workers information that would be needed to transmit an individual’s vision, health, prescription, and any other type of medical information safely. This essay will discuss how Rite Aid pharmacy informs customers of how his or her personal information is disclosed and how he or she is protected against violations of their rights, ensuring customers that...
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