It is the medical office specialist duty to protect all PHI by keeping it private and secure. How can a medical office specialist do this? Here are several ways. Lets discuss them. One way is to put someone in charge. This private security officer can take steps needed to keep PHI secure, by training new staff on HIPAA privacy rule, keep record of privacy rule activities, and plug any PHI leaks as they come up (Edwards, 2005). Another step is to keep PHI secure and private. We can do this by having patients files and charts locked up. Any written or printed PHI should never be thrown away but should be shredded and disposed properly. When patients sign in, making sure the name is crossed out with black marker after being called, and do not
Roles and responsibility of the work are adhered to. Personal information about patient are kept confidential except where it is necessary with other staff that care for the same patient or to the health care team attending to them.
Describe the responsibility of the medical office specialist to protect all protected health information (PHI).
Each of these titles represent duties that a medical office specialist might be asked to perform. The smaller the practice the more likely it is that the person in this position will be responsible for
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by congress in 1996, and helps to ensure the privacy and security of Electronic Health Records (EHR's). By following the rules and regulations set forth under HIPAA, we can ensure the safety of patients' EHR's. We are responsible for protecting patients' records, and there are many measures we can take in order do this. Firstly, we must always keep patients' health information private. This means no discussing the records with people that are not authorized to know, and even then, we should only disclose the minimum necessary amount of information possible. For covered entities, we must designate a privacy and security officer to ensure the privacy
Lately I have been hearing a lot about security of patient’s health records and how people are losing their jobs behind accessing information that they have no need to be in. It got me to wondering just how secure our personal information is from prying eyes and how who is alerted when these prying eye are in information that doesn’t concern them. So, when I ran across this article “Security Audits of Electronic Health Information” and “HIPAA Security Rule Overview” it caught my eye and curiosity on how they might work hand in hand when it comes to protecting what information is accessed by personnel. So, I choose these articles to get more information on this topic.
Because it allows the HIM professional to be consciously aware of the duty and responsibility that he/she has in regards to patient confidentiality, privacy and security. It also allows them to know what the repercussions might be in case they were to break the law.
There is the privacy rule that tells what information can be used or not. The security rule that covers entities with confidentiality and the availability of ePHIL and last the Breach notification rule that lets the U.S department of health and human service talk to the media about infected patients if it will cause harm to the population. (HIPAA Basics for Providers: Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, 2016) My facility is preventing HIPAA violations by covering all paper info with a blank sheet over patient records, there is also limited people allowed in behind the nurse's desk where the computers are kept the possible threats of the EHR could be hacker obtaining patient records. Patient information could be breached unintentionally for example people walking by and looking at the computer or may be heard over the telephone or even if a device is stolen or lost are ways that could be breached. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014)Healthcare workers could also access anyone’s chart including their own without permission. HIPPA violations could result in suspension, fines, and jail
Medical Organizations or Hospitals should manage PHI effectively by implementing policies and procedures. Persuasive training on techniques to appropriately handle and protect PHI should be given to all the employees who handle PHI. This includes access controls, risk management, work-force sanction policies, risk analysis, information system activity reviews, assigned security responsibility, and
There are laws in place that protect a patient in the health care setting. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA, as it is known in the healthcare field, was designed to protect the privacy,confidentiality and security of patient information (Pozgar, 2013).Employees the health care field are very aware of HIPAA and the rights of their patients. All staff knows that patient information can only be discussed with qualified individuals on a need to know basis. Speaking about cases outside of work is strictly prohibited. Photography or recording of any patient interaction is also a breach of a patient's rights as well. The problem with this is that there are many policies in place to protect the
For the duration of reading this article, it explains everything that must be followed and met in the practices of the facilities. These include privacy guidelines, electronic transaction guidelines, and just overall security as a whole. With all of these put in place the patients that are attending the hospital should be joyous to know that their records are for the most part safe, secure, and in the right hands. Meaning that there is no chaos and everything is peaceful until there is a corrupt politician wanting to spread illegal information about their opponents, someone letting their guard down, or worse, someone hacking into the system and causing a catastrophe which is why HIPAA was created in the first place. Using this system can protect the hospital during times when someone has hacked into the system if they have followed all the rules and such to the
Massive security breaches have run rampant throughout the healthcare industry, making EHR’s harder and harder to properly implement. With increased scrutiny and the stringent regulations surrounding the healthcare industry, protecting the healthcare information stored electronically is critical to the success of any future attempts at implementing healthcare electronic recording systems. The struggle lies in the fact that so many threats exist that any facility can be completely overwhelmed with the daunting task of securing information while attempting to implement new systems. Although Healthcare info has many threats such as human, technological, and natural threats, and it faces intense scrutiny due to the HIPAA regulation requirements, it is still possible to protect and secure it through physical, administrative, and technical safeguards.
The field of study I am particularly interested in is Medical Office Administration. Based on my own research this job involves sitting for long periods of time, requires extensive knowledge of computers and the ability of multitasking. The roles of this job include effectively managing an office. They work in a variety of fields ranging from a physician’s office to a rest home facility. There are particular skills needed to do well in this, which include being well-organized, good communication skills, and an understanding of medical terms. This job is more suitable to people who work well with computer technology. In addition, someone who is able to pay attention to details would succeed in this field. I am interested in this field based on the heavy use with computers and the fact that there is a variety of job options out there. In the Medical Office Administration field, these types of jobs will be in higher demand as the population continues to grow.
One of the most meaningful obstacles is patient concerns about HIPAA privacy and the security of their PHI which possibly could be siphoned off of telecommunications circuits used by telehealth equipment. In order for widespread telehealth implementation to be successful, the medical providers must find a way to make sure their patients perceive that they are doing everything in their power to prevent the patient’s PHI from being stolen (i.e.
Dealing with an employee who disregards the importance of a certain aspect of the medical office can be troubling – each area is important for different reasons. Administrative roles help keep the office organized and running smoothly, while clinical positions provide the patient care. During the course of their education, Sloan dismissed the subject of administration in favour of clinical procedures but was hired for a position in the medical records department as there were no available jobs in the clinical department. When an assistant is hired who desperately wants to work in one area, but thinks the positioned they were assigned isn’t essential can be detrimental; consequently, the quality of work may suffer at the hands of an indifferent
In light of available security measures and their widespread acceptance within the information security community, there is no excuse for healthcare organizations to fail in fulfilling their duty to protect personal patient information. Guaranteeing the confidentiality and privacy of data in healthcare information is crucial in safeguarding the data of patients as there should be a legal responsibility to protect medical records from unauthorized access.