Confidentiality In Healthcare

Confidentiality in the Healthcare arena can be simply defined as the moral and ethical duty of the Practitioner to keep all the patient’s bio-data under lock and key, and offer a disclosure of those facts that the patient is legally mandated to disclose or deems fit to enhance their positive health outcome. According to the Segen’s Medical Dictionary, “Confidentiality is the ethical principle that a physician may not reveal any information disclosed in the course of medical care, unless the patient who disclosed that information poses a threat to him, herself or others’’

HIPAA (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996), outlines rules, regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.

It could lead to potential threats to the patient when information is carelessly shared. Confidential information can be shared when it is a serious case or needs effective care. Information cannot be erased or unshared once it is

This information is important when counseling individuals so that we don’t violate the patient’s privacy. Patients may disclose protected health information such as medical issues and medications during interviews or while filling out paperwork. Knowing that sharing this information is a HIPAA violation and has legal ramifications can save us from a lot of unwanted trouble. Also, knowing this will allow us to take extra care not to leave documents such as files or paperwork laying around that contains patient information. It allows us to know not to discuss with others, what a patient discusses with us. This information informs us of who we are allowed to share this information with. Sometimes it might be necessary to share information with a patient’s doctor in order to coordinate treatment or other services. In addition, it might also be necessary to speak to the patient’s provider about any food / medication interactions or possible food intolerance /allergies. It is also important to know for billing

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made it illegal to gain access to personal medical information for any reasons other than health care delivery, operations, and reimbursements” (Shi &ump; Singh, 2008, p. 166). “HIPAA legislation mandated strict controls on the transfer of personally identifiable health data between two entities, provisions for disclosure of protected information, and criminal penalties for violation” (Clayton 2001). “HIPAA also has privacy requirements that govern disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) placed in the medical record by physicians, nurses, and other health care providers” (Buck, 2011). Always remember conversations about a patient’s health care or

It is also just as important to keep a confidentiality because of data protection legislation which enforces the rights of the individual to have their personal information protected (Legislation.gov.uk, 1998). So legally, healthcare professionals have a duty to protect the healthcare user’s personal information, at least to the legal minimum, or face proceedings. On top of this though, there is a further responsibility placed on the healthcare professional to respect the right of the user to their private life and beliefs. This is outlined by the NMC’s Code (2012) which reiterates the Data Protection Act, 1998 and further clarifies the lengths that healthcare professionals should go to ensure the healthcare user’s confidentiality and privacy is protected.

When confidential patient information is disclosed without consent it is a violation of the HIPAA Title II Security Rule. This rule was enacted in response to private information being leaked to the news and emails containing privileged information were read by unauthorized people. Identity theft is a real concern so patient privacy should be taken seriously. This is a rule can easily be broken without the

Respecting the patients’ privacy has always been an important aspect of the physicians practice. This is because health related matters are often private and no patient would want their private information accessible to anyone other than those directly involved in their case. The goals of HIPAA are to increase patient health information use and disclosure control, increase patient access to their records, limit health information use, secure transactions and storage, and establish legal accountabilities and penalties (Kumar et al., 2009, p. 186). In the post HIPAA environment there are less opportunities for the wrong people to get their hands on patient records. The information obtained at each patient flow checkpoint is broken up so that the information that is specifically needed for each department is available for only that department. For example, billing information gets sent and stored in a financial database (Kumar et al., 2009, p. 189). The billing employees only see the data related to the billing and not medical, treatment, or procedure specifics. Mainly, patients want to know what a physician is doing to protect their privacy (Hartley & Jones, 2014, Chapter 5). There is usually a reason as to why a patient expresses extra concern regarding his privacy. For example: A teenager is experimenting with drugs and calls the office for help, a man tests positive for hepatitis C and feels like he may lose his job,

When it comes to health care, one of patients’ primary concerns is the protection of their private information. It is for this reason that Congress created the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA affects nearly all communication between patients, providers, payers, and intermediates such as pharmacies (Fremgen, 2012). Physicians may need to refer a patient to another practice for tests or further treatment. At any time, a patient has the right to request copies of his or her medical records. To collect payment for services, a clinic may need to provide an insurance company with the patient’s diagnosis. Staff must also cooperate when circumstances unrelated to patient care require the release of confidential information. It is critical that staff avoids confusion and properly implements the privacy policy. Medical personnel must exercise caution when communicating patient information, be familiar with special circumstances, and not misinterpret the privacy laws to the detriment of patients and other involved parties.

In the medical field or any other professions, privacy is paramount. One of the most important things is confidentiality. In this case, patients should be able to trust that they treating physicians will not disclose their personal information to other parties without their consent. The question then becomes: Under what circumstances is it alright for physicians to disclose private medical information to third party without informed consent? Did Dr. Shapiro have the right to disclose Mr. Lovington’s private medical information to his wife Anna, who is also his patient?

Security: - which states that Protected Health Information (PHI) should not be distributed without patient authorization, unless there is a clear basis for doing so, and the individuals who receive the information must safeguard it.

Finding out that people blame doctors for when their patient commits a crime puts my mind in utter disbelief. The law of patient confidentiality clearly states that the physician must keep all information a patient informs them in confidence, unless it acquires serious medical care, but if the doctor breaches the confidentiality by informing a third party without the patient’s consent, he or she could be sued. Doctor-patient confidentiality is based on the belief that a person should not be worried about seeking medical treatment in alarm that his or her problem will be shown to others. The objective of the relationship between the patient and their doctor is to make patients feel as comfortable as possible by providing them with any information they way need about their symptoms. This helps the doctor to make a correct diagnosis, and overall helping the patient feel comfortable enough to trust their doctor so that they may receive the best care. Once a physician takes a patient on, they must keep all the patient says and does in confidence; moreover, he cannot inform any third party of the patients wellbeing, but there are some exceptions like if the patient intends on causing harm to oneself or other or if it is an issue in a lawsuit. The court system claims A patient must have full confidence that their doctor will be able to keep all his or her medical issues private which helps the patient trust their physician. The professional duty of confidentiality not only covers

Confidentiality implies any data that is held around a specific individual is favoured and private. It is the obligation of all health care providers to verify that this data is open just to those approved to have admittance to it… Information around an individual ought to regularly just be shared on a need-to-know premise. All data held inside of my department is secret to the hospital in general. Confidential data about people can be examined with other social nurture bona fide reasons, for example, for one specialist to hand over toward the end of their day of work to another who has quite recently gone ahead obligation or when one health care provider needs to cover the work of their partner whilst they are on leave. General exchange around

Protected Health Information (PHI) is the definition used by HIPAA. It is any health information recorded or spoken that was received by a health care provider, health plan, public health authority, life insurer, school or university that describe the past and present physical or mental health occurred of an individual. This health information is personally identifiable to the patient and this information was exposed during the health service care. PHI was established to guarantee safety of the population. However, when the confidential information is violated and HIPAA protocols are not followed, the individual will have dealt upon a classification (Credentialed and non-credentialed faculty and students). Depending on the severity of the

Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society. Safeguarding those rights, with respect to an individual’s personal health information, is our ethical and legal obligation as health care providers. Doing so in today’s health care environment is increasingly challenging (OJIN, 2005).