Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Confidentiality in the medical field
Reflection on patient confidentiality
Reflection on patient confidentiality
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Confidentiality in the medical field
Transparency is a major issue within healthcare that I am determined to find a solution to. I am defining transparency as exposed information from healthcare institutions to patients, employees, and the public. This topic affects all patients, future patients and employees. According to the CDC, 125.7 million hospital visits occurred in 2016 (National Center for Health Statistics, 2016). Furthermore, healthcare accounts for approximately 13% of the total U.S. workforce (An Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Projections, 2010-2020). These statistics prove that many people can be affected by transparency within healthcare. Healthcare is a complex system that often varies by country, therefore I would only examine the issue of transparency in American healthcare systems. The degree of the issue of transparency in healthcare can range from a minor situation to something life threatening or severe. The transparency in the wait …show more content…
An important step includes drafting a design to accomplish my goal of finding a resolution to the lack of transparency in healthcare. The specific design that I am referring to can be found in T.R. Harrison’s study titled, “Enhancing Communication Interventions and Evaluations through Communication design” (Harrison, 2013). Within my design I would look into several different cases of which this problem caused a minor to severe effect on both employees and physicians. I would also collaborate with everyone involved in the transparency issue. This includes healthcare leaders, administrators, physicians, employees, and patients. In order to ensure that I have the best available data to inform my work, I would need assistance from healthcare administrators and professionals. By utilizing my resources within the Northwestern community, I could validate the information
Overall these sources proved to provide a great deal of information to this nurse. All sources pertained to HIPAA standards and regulations. This nurse sought out an article from when HIPAA was first passed to evaluate the timeline prospectively. While addressing the implications of patient privacy, these articles relate many current situations nurses and physicians encounter daily. These resources also discussed possible violations and methods to prevent by using an informaticist and information technology.
The guidance explains and clarifies key provisions of the medical privacy regulation, which was published last December (HIPAA, 1996). Guaranteeing the accuracy, security, and protection of the privacy of all medical information is crucial and an ongoing challenge for many organizations. References American Medical Association (2005). Retrieved December 7, 2008, from http://www.ad http://www.ama-assn.org/.
During the 1980’s, medical-related situations continuously occurred that made patients question their insurance policies as well as the privacy of their health care. Congress worked to create a bill containing strict rules regarding insurance policies and availability for one to keep their insurance if they are to move jobs. These rules were soon applied to all medical facilities and faculty and titled the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act”.The H.I.P.A.A. policies brought about change in professionalism, medical standards, taxing, and enforcement. Throughout history, maintaining patient privacy has always been a problem in the medical field. Patients have the right to their privacy and the information that they do not want to disclose should be kept privately. Since this was an overly occurring problem, the congress believed that they should make a law to fix this problem. On August 21, 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by congress and President Bill Clinton.
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.
Support: In health and social care practice, an individual is given required privacy, given independence, allowed individuality. Besides these, every individual is given equal rights, support, attention and care and his friends and families also treated properly. In health and social care, individual from culture of wide variety to be served and for this reason, views and values from different cultures and communities are respected.
HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was put in place by the Federal Government for several reasons; better portability of health insurance for employees, to prevent fraud and abuse within the healthcare delivery system, and simplification of administrative functions associated with healthcare delivery (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Due to sensitive healthcare information being shared federal regulations were also put into place, resulting in the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule”. The Privacy Rule limits the use and disclosure of patient information. The Security Rule protects the patients’ healthcare information from improper use or disclosure, to maintain information integrity, and ensure its availability (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Both regulations apply to protected health information (PHI) which is any form of health information that can be used to identify an individual patient. Practitioners who refer to HIPPA are not referring to the act itself but the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). It is extremely important to understand these concepts as a student in the clinical setting and how each hospital enforces these concepts. Before starting at any clinical site there is an extensive orientation about HIPPA regarding what is appropriate and not appropriate when it comes to patient information and the repercussions of violating HIPPA. In this paper I will discuss Akron General’s rules and policies regarding their EHR, PHI, EPHI, and social media.
In conclusion, technology has changed the world, as we knew it. Positive and negative come with change. The goal of the ACA, HIPPA, and EHRs is achieve positive patient outcomes, while protecting the integrity, trust and confidentiality, and decreasing health care cost. Privacy is a fundamental right of a patient, and nurses are expected to maintain confidentiality (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A breach in confidentiality will result in lack of trust between nurse and patients. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to ensure my patients privacy, and to provide nursing care that is patient centered, not technology centered.
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).
Healthcare plays an important role in almost every person’s life at one point or another. Many times, one can get caught without, or underinsured and it can be detrimental to their livelihood. With the rising cost of healthcare, it is likely that having a national healthcare policy in place, and as an individual, being able to afford and obtain adequate health insurance has not been required until now. With the new national healthcare plan, it is required for all citizens to obtain and maintain some sort of public or private insurance policy. The rising costs can be attributed to many things. A significant reason for the astronomical cost of health care is because of the staggering amount of uninsured or underinsured individuals receiving medical attention and almost many never paying the bill. Those who do have insurance have seen a gradual increase in their premiums and deductibles to make up for this.
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.
Medtronic responds to regulations and directives from external stake holders such as governmental bodies by being proactive towards federal government regulations and by internal record monitoring. Medtronic does not leave anything to chance and as a company, likes to stay ahead of governmental regulations. The federal government has announced that medical device companies will soon have to disclose any transfer of value between the company and external customers. Transfer of value is seen as anything that can persuade a physician or customer to use the medical device company’s product over a competitor’s product due to personal gain. Before the federal government announced that medical device companies would have to provide transparency documentation between the company and customers. Medtronic took action and developed and implemented transparency practices in all aspects of customer relations. Now every time a surgeon or external customer is approached for a consultation, the meeting must be recorded and every possible form of transfer of value must be documented and recorded. In the world of Medtronic transparency, anything from lunch provided to a customer to a pen with the company’s logo is considered transfer of value and must be
A health care system exists to address the health care issues of its community. To do so equitably it must recognise, plan for and implement necessary changes to cater for the diverse needs of the community. It is when the community engages in dialogue with the providers of health care that the specific needs are revealed and can then be planned for and implemented. However it is often those who have no voice in the community who have the greatest need of health care. Their lower socio economic status, as well as their lower educational levels, deters them from accessing appropriate health care. Consumer participation is one way to address this lack of representation.
Patient confidentiality is one of the foundations to the medical practice. Patients arrive at hospitals seeking treatment believing that all personal information will remain between themselves and the medical staff. In order to assure patients privacy, confidentiality policies were established. However, a confidentiality policy may be broken only in the case the medical staff believes that the patient is a danger to themselves or to others in society. Thesis Statement: The ethics underlying patient confidentiality is periodically questioned in our society due to circumstances that abruptly occur leaving health professionals to decide between right and wrong.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Confidential Information and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA), and the Freedom of Information Act all provide legal protection under many laws. It also involves ethical protection. The patient must be able to completely trust the healthcare provider by having confidence that their information is kept safe and not disclosed without their consent. Disclosing any information to the public could be humiliating for them. Patient information that is protected includes all medical and personal information related to their medical records, medical treatments, payment records, date of birth, gender, and
Health care has always been an interesting topic all over the world. Voltaire once said, “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” It may seem like health care that nothing gets accomplished in different health care systems, but ultimately many trying to cures diseases and improve health care systems.