1.
What actions should Barbara and Bill take to educate staff on proper privacy
and security protocols regarding protected health information (PHI)?
Barbara and Bill should provide mandatory training about PHI
and how important it is to keep this information secure and safe. This
should be a mandatory training class, followed up with yearly
competency training to ensure staff stays educated on the importance of
HIPPA. If those employees who are signed off on a yearly competency
continue to violate the policies and procedures put into place, then Bill
and Barbara should seek consequences for these employees.
2.
In the patient care areas, why would it be important to improve physical
safeguards such as fax machine and computer monitor placement?
This is important to protect PHI. Private patient information could
be displayed on the monitors or faxes could arrive with private
patient information or test results. Other patients, families, or
employees can see this information if there aren't physical safeguards in
place to ensure this doesn't happen.
3.
The HIM department is a leader in providing continual education to their staff
on privacy policies and procedures. How can Barbara work with clinical areas to
ensure sufficient training is provided to each department’s staff?
Barbara can work with supervisors in each clinical area or unit on
what she found during her audits and some unit-specific information
which can help HIM and the clinical areas to better understand exactly
what needs to be done and talked about during training.
4.
Why do you think it is a good idea to perform audits, such as the one Barbara
completed, on a regular basis? Do you think the audits should always be
unannounced, or would periodic announced scheduled audits also be
beneficial?
These audits are a great idea as a check and balance to ensure
everyone at the facility is doing their part to protect PHI. This leaves
room for a lot of feedback, and chances to improve things such as
mandatory training and yearly competencies. I think that unannounced
audits are going to give the rawest truthful feedback, but doing them
both announced and unannounced could show the difference in how
serious employees are taking protecting PHI.
