Privacy and Confidentiality of the patients As health care professionals, we have the opportunity to defend, advocate, protect patient rights, enhance dignity and autonomy in our patients. “The American Nurses association (ANA) believes that protection of privacy and confidentiality is essential to maintaining the trusting relationship between health care providers and patients and integral to professional practice” (ANA, 2015). Healthcare providers have the obligation to protect the confidentiality of their patients, and duty to ensure HIPPA privacy is protected. Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights of each human being and health care provider who do not comply with HIPAA regulations or make unauthorized disclosures risk civil and criminal liability. The purpose of this research essay is to reinforce legal aspects of nursing in privacy and confidentiality of individual and HIPPA violation.
Patient Confidentiality
Patient confidentiality and their privacy are very serious matter in the eye of the law. “Security breaches threaten patient privacy when confidential health information is made available to others without the individual's consent or authorization” (Ozair, Jamshed, Sharma, & Aggarwal, 2015). Therefore, all healthcare staff members must review policies that addresses employee confidentiality, protection of patient privacy and rights. “Every nurse must be aware of that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and how to maintain the confidentiality of patients. Furthermore, HIPPA offers protection and limitation of personal health information, and security to each patient. Besides every healthcare provider must to abide series privacy standards and HIPPA guidelines. “HIPAA requires health care organizations to offer education about private health information (PHI) to all employees and that employees review PHI policies annually”(Hood, Leddy, & Pepper, 2014). HIPPA Violation can occur with employees who are not really familiar with their regulations such as: volunteers, students, interns and employees who have access to patient information. Therefore, each of those people must be in compliance of training and obtain of understanding about privacy and security of patient
. HIPAA privacy rules are complicated and extensive, and set forth guidelines to be followed by health care providers and other covered entities such as insurance carriers and by consumers. HIPAA is very specific in its requirements regarding the release of information, but is not as specific when it comes to the manner in which training and policies are developed and delivered within the health care industry. This paper will discuss how HIPAA affects a patient's access to their medical records, how and under what circumstances personal health information can be released to other entities for purposes
In the health care business, there are certain standards and laws that have been put in place to protect our patients and their personal health information. When a health care facility fails to protect their patient’s confidential information, the US Government may get involved and facilities may be forced to pay huge sums of money in fines, and risk damaging their reputation.
Healthcare technology has grown and evolved over time. With the conversion to electronic medical records and the creation of social media just to name a few, ensuring patient privacy is of the utmost importance for healthcare facilities in this day and age. In order for an organization to avoid hefty fines, it is imperative that a healthcare administrator maintains compliance with the standards and regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This paper will provide a summary
“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 important for all health care recipients and health care providers to read information regarding HIPAA that way everyone will be informed of what rights are privacy they are entitled to and the workers are aware of what information needs to remain confidential. People can receive handouts regarding information about HIPAA, as well as the Internet. There are hundreds of online websites that people can go to in order to receive more information on how HIPAA works and what is required to ensure everyone follows the laws that go along with HIPAA. Breaking the law can have some major consequences so it is important to understand HIPAA and what privacy laws are enforced to protect a patient’s information. The information that is
Even though hipaa violations are an important standard in preventing many individuals from causing several breaches of information from getting out, it is important to work on a strategies within several health care organizations that will work with the privacy rules regarding violation laws. “Jill Granger & Laura Cataldo (2013) reports When working in the healthcare setting, it is important to consult with the guidelines established by one's institution and to participate in any training programs to insure that the appropriate steps are being taken to maintain privacy. There are also a variety of additional resources available from the federal government and professional organizations to assist in the training process that may be especially
HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and 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.
HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and 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.
Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the protection of patient’s private health information. It’s very pertinent to the patients that their personal information is being kept privately away from unauthorized viewers. Patients are allowed to have access to their own health records if they request them. Workers that has access to protected health information are required by law to secure all information in a file and not share with anyone any information that is not relevant to them. You should always know whom to disclosed the proper protected health information to when necessary. There are safeguards that can help with ensuring the security and protection of the protected health information, while the information is being transmitted or stored in its proper place.
The significance of patient privacy and the security of confidential information are increasingly vital given the approval of electronic health records. Healthcare providers have recognized striking prices due to security threats and subsequent breaches. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002), under the Privacy Rule healthcare establishments must establish protections that establish procedures and rules that guarantee least levels of privacy in relation to patient information. When violations are recognized, it is required that a compliant be created by the individual or unit experiencing the violation. In the complaint, the name of the person who participated in the violation, in addition to the nature of the violation, must be comprehensive. The filing of the complaint initiates an investigation by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA values (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The establishment of a procedure related to privacy violations has resulted in many cases relating to electronic data breaches. Next is a consideration of two such cases to demonstrate the role of privacy in regards to HIPAA and electronic health database breaches.
It is essential that health care researchers and/or managers abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) before sharing any patient health information to the public. The Privacy Rule under HIPPA will permit the sharing of health information without patient permission for payment, treating, and health care operations, and other specified purposes (Koontz, 2015). In addition, the Security Rule under HIPPA is designed to ensure that patient health information is protected from the unauthorized disclosure and access (Koontz, 2015). After all, the increase in health information technology makes it easier for researchers to obtain patient health data (Largent, Joffe, & Miller, 2011). However, the health care researcher
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
As health care providers we have principles of ethical duties we owe our patient. We are to help the patient to improve without causing undue harm, and provide the same level of care to each patient regardless of the circumstances. The development of a CAUTI policy will assist healthcare providers in full filling these ethical duties by providing safe, effective, and quality guidelines of care to each patient. The business practice of patient confidentiality is achieved by putting regulation on access to clinical records. Only those individual who are providing care or have a need to see a portion of a patient’s chart should be allowed to view it. All staff member should inforce and protect the patients right to
Health information patient privacy and confidentiality can both be mistaken as synonyms. Yet, a difference exists between the two despite their evident intimacy in both meaning and function. A way to see it: privacy personal, confidentiality will always involve two parties. To better explain, confidentiality regards the safety of patient information that is in the hands of a second party (not the patient), from being divulged without permission and/or lawful admissibility to a third party; whereas privacy has to do with the actually ownership and knowledge of the information. For example, the actual collection and storage of a patient’s information involves privacy (Nass, Levit & Gostin, 2009).
Privacy and confidentiality are one of the significant topics of legal in the health-care setting because it is necessary for the management of patient information. Providing excellent nursing care for a patient requires that each nurse acquires relevant information from the patient concerning the patient’s symptoms, their lifestyle, their medication, etc. Therefore, nurses routinely see, hear, read and record things about other people that are not commonly discussed outside the health-care setting and have exceptional access to matters of patient privacy. This brings with it certain legal and moral obligations. According to the ANMC’s (2008) Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia, nurses in Australia are obliged to ‘treat