Ethical Informatic Issues In Health Care

1076 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 10 rights of patients

Ethical informatics issues arise in all industries involving technology, and healthcare is not an exception. The informatics world in healthcare is complex and complicated because of the number of systems required interact with each other to store and retrieve data, and efficiently deliver accurate information to the healthcare provider. In return, the healthcare provider uses that information to make clinical care decisions in the best interest of the patients. However, this is where one of the main informatic issues in healthcare arises: access to health medical records. I chose this informatics topic because my goal in the future is to become an EHR application analyst. Therefore, it will be beneficial for me to get a deeper understanding …show more content…

For Autonomy, the hospital/facility should inform the patients of their rights and privacy practices. The facility must respect the patients’ autonomy by giving them the access accordingly to their medical records, and maintain confidentiality of the records unless the patients permit the access. This will help to foster trust and improve communication. By informing the patients of their rights, the hospitals can avoid potential lawsuits about privacy practices. In addition, now that the patient is able to gain access to their health record, they can review their information and provide feedback to health providers. This will enhance their treatment because with the feedback from the patient, the health provider now has more of an accurate information to design an appropriate treatment plan. All parties involved - physicians, patients, and hospitals - will benefits from simple actions of informing the patients of their rights and privacy practices and giving access to medical records …show more content…

Enhance network security of the EHR system will reduce the risk of cyber-attacks. Encrypt data when sending and receiving data from external systems will ensure that the patients’ medical records only be available to the right parties. In addition to security implementation, the facility should also provide training classes or information sessions to the employees to inform them about the importance of patients’ medical records, the business process for accessing and retrieving the records, the pros versus cons of medical records leakage, and the potential consequences. Structured business processes will prevent human errors on exposing medical records. Knowledge from the information sessions or trainings will reduce the risk of any potential internal theft on data now that the employees know the pros and cons of their actions. With these actions, the hospitals will benefit from the reduced risks of cyber-attacks, thefts, or mistakes on exposing medical records. The patients will have peace of mind knowing that their personal and important information are

Show More
Related

  • Annotated Bibliography on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

    1894 Words  | 4 Pages

    As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.

    Read More

  • Electronic Medical Files: A Threat to Privacy?

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abstract:  Electronic medical databases and the ability to store medical files in them have made our lives easier in many ways and riskier in others.  The main risk they pose is the safety of our personal data if put on an insecure an insecure medium.  What if someone gets their hands on your information and uses it in ways you don't approve of? Can you stop them?  To keep your information safe and to preserve faith in this invaluable technology, the issue of access must be addressed.  Guidelines are needed to establish who has access and how they may get it.  This is necessary for the security of the information a, to preserve privacy, and to maintain existing benefits.

    Read More

  • Hipaa Privacy Rule

    1950 Words  | 4 Pages

    With today's use of electronic medical records software, information discussed in confidence with your doctor(s) will be recorded into electronic data files. The obvious concern is the potential for your records to be seen by hundreds of strangers who work in health care, the insurance industry, and a host of businesses associated with medical organizations. Fortunately, this catastrophic scenario will likely be avoided. Congress addressed growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data, and in 1996 passed “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Ehr

    268 Words  | 1 Pages

    The main purpose of EHRs is to mainly exchange health information electronically to help improve quality and safety for patients. Four pros of EHRs is to provide accurate and recent information of the patients, allow for quick access to the patient records, share the health information securely, and make patient records and notes legible. These four points are important and necessary because the goal overall is to improve public health. Patient information should always be updated and current. Health professionals need to easily have access to patient records to either update them or verify the information. Also, health professionals can now avoid any discrepancies with electronic records verses when records were completely on paper.

    Read More

  • Confidentiality of Health Information

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    6. Should individuals and organizations with access to the databases be identified to the patient

    Read More

  • Privacy Rule In Health Administration

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a current student at Akron General Medical Center we are allowed access to their EHR, McKesson. However, before logging into their system or even stepping foot on the floor the importance of patient information and keeping it c...

    Read More

  • Patients' Rights and Access to Medical Records

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each time a patient visits a doctor, is admitted to a hospital, goes to a pharmacist, or sends a claim to a health plan, a record is made of the confidential health information. The use of this information is protected and pieced together by state laws, which leave gaps in the protection of patient's privacy and confidentiality. Together all of the programs mentioned are developing strategies to better protect patient records. AHIMA members foresee daily conflicts and challenges dealing with patient confidentiality and access to their records. The resolution of these issues combined will one day result in a comprehensive national standard that will enhance individual privacy, foster research and protect the public health.

    Read More

  • Genetic Information vs Privacy

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    Doctors, hospitals and other care providers dispute that they should have access to the medical records and other health information of any patient citing that they need this information to provide the best possible treatment for proper planning. Insurers on the other hand claim they must have personal health information in order to properly process claims and pay for the care. They also insist that this will provide protection against fraud. Government authorities make the same arguments saying that in providing taxpayer-funded coverage to its citizens, it has the right to know what it is paying for and to protect against fraud and abuse. Researchers both medical and none nonmedical have the same argument saying that they need access to these information so as to improve the quality of care, conduct studies that will make healthcare more effective and produce new products and therapies (Easthope 2005).

    Read More

  • All Pine Medical Center Case Study

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    Approximately ten months ago All Pine Medical Center switched from paper medical record to an electronic health record (EHR) system. Dr. Robert Palmer, the medical director for Palmer Cardiology Associates, is having complications with the new EHR system. Dr. Palmer and his associates feel as though it takes up too much of their and their patient’s time to get through the system just to look up a patient’s medical records. Dr. Palmer believes if certain security features, such as having to log in into the All Pine Medical Center main systems with a username provided by the hospital IT department and password of their choosing, than having to log into the electronic health record using the main username but with a different password from before. Along with an access code which is also provided by the hospital IT department. After going through all the login requirements, you will finally be able to obtain the patient’s medical records. Once you get logged into the system, there will be an allotted amount of time

    Read More

  • Confidentiality And Patient Privacy

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    The debate is still going on today about what can and cannot be done legitimately with patients health information. There are worries about who should be able to access the patient’s information and for what reasons do they have to be accessing the patient’s health information. While on the other side there is an increasing need for performance assessments, efficient health guard, and a proficient administration for more and better information. Health care services are now starting to realize that they have a lot of work to do to be in compliance with the current health laws on the state and federal level guidelines when it comes to dealing with protecting patient data.

    Read More

  • HIPAA's Role in Protecting Patient Privacy

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health information opponents has question the delivery and handling of patients electronic health records by health care organization and workers. The laws and regulations that set the framework protecting a user’s health information has become a major factor in how information is used and disclosed. The ability to share a patient document using Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is a critical component in the United States effort to show transparency and quality of healthcare records while protecting patient privacy. In 1996, under President Clinton administration, the US “Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)” established national standards for the safeguard of certain health information. As a result, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or (HIPAA) was established. HIPAA security standards required healthcare providers to ensure confidentiality and integrity of individual health information. This also included insurance administration and insurance portability. According to Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), an organization must guarantee the integrity, confidentiality, and security of sensitive patient data (Heckle & Lutters, 2011).

    Read More

  • The Professional Roles Of Nursing

    1645 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maintenance of privacy is very important in the whole process of communication in nursing. It has always been an important issue since the origin of the Nightingale pledge related to the code of ethics in nursing (Kuhse & Singer, 2001). The private information provided by the patients can be used by the health care providers for the purpose of record keeping and improving the overall health policy. Nurses have to deal with many challenges related to the frequent persuasion by the family members to tell them the complete

    Read More

  • Health Information Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA)

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like all other areas of health care, ethical issues arise in the use of information technology. Some areas of concern include principles of privacy, the patient’s right to autonomy and decision-making in the management of their personal health information, and the concepts of fairness and equality in access to care in which ethics can inform the provider’s strategies and decisions. The primary sources of standards and implantation specifications for health information security and privacy are Health Information Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy and Security regulations. The delivery of safe, high-quality health care necessarily involves the collection, use, retention, and sharing of individual consumers’ most private information.

    Read More

  • Electronic Health Records: A Case Study

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The utilization of Electronic Health Records will lead to better quality outcomes for both the patient and healthcare providers, by improving patient care, practice efficiencies & cost savings, increasing patient participation and family engagement. These advanced outcomes may be proficient by imploring better treatment options for providers using EHRs. Although EHR is an advancement for the healthcare field, changes are needed to protect the patients. For EHR to achieve viability, the patients must be convinced that their well-being will be secured; if this confidentiality is endangered the patient’s trust will be compromised (Layman, 2008). Nurses and Nurse Practitioners will play an essential part in the management of health

    Read More

  • Patient Portals

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    regarding their health status. Many of these resources offer convenience in that they are available to patients on a 24/7 basis. The objective is to engage the level of communications between the patient and medical staff. Through various case studies and research, it has been shown that many patients often feel overwhelmed with the access to their personal medical records. Other barriers to this advance in technology include patient safety concerns, and a general lack of understanding of the information that is presented to the patient.

    Read More

More about Ethical Informatic Issues In Health Care

Open Document