Privacy And Security Issues: Regional Health Information

Health information management professionals ensure that patient information under a provider’s care is correct, complete, and safe (Gartee, 2011). Patient health information is sensitive and must be handled only by trained professionals with experience in the field. HIM professionals such as the Registered Health Information Administrators manage employees in the HIM department that work with patient information. Registered Health Information Administrators must “Possesses comprehensive knowledge of medical, administrative, ethical and legal requirements and standards related to healthcare delivery and the privacy of protected patient information” (“RHIA”, 2015), In addition, the RHIA role is actively involved with the forms control process and involved with all units that utilize patient information in any way (Gartee, 2011).

The United States Department of Health and Human Services information security and privacy program is accountable for ensuring Operating Division SOP participation in the Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) process; reviewing completed PIAs, and confirming that they are adequately and accurately completed prior to SAOP approval for web publishing; submitting the Privacy Management portion of the Department’s annual FISMA report to the SAOP for approval (HHS, 2010); overseeing the coordination of privacy-related reporting activities as mandated by federal legislation and OMB guidance; developing the proper policy and guidance for implementation of information privacy protections, including full compliance with federal laws, regulations, and policies relating to information privacy (HHS, 2010); maintaining appropriate documentation regarding compliance with information privacy laws, regulations, and HHS policies; ensuring the Department’s privacy compliance efforts are ongoing, including reviewing documented information privacy procedures to ensure that they are comprehensive and innovative, and managing revision, as necessary; ensure that 100 percent of department employees and contractors receive annual Information Security awareness training and role-based training in compliance with OMB A-130, Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology

In order to minimize the risks for potential privacy breaches, the health information management (HIM) director has to understand all facets of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This should include conducting an audit of their practices. In this scenario, an audit would have been useful to detect the improper access by the employee sooner. HIPAA uses both its privacy and security regulations to “protect consumer’s health information, allow consumers greater access and control to such information, enhance health care, and finally to create a national framework for health care privacy protection” (Amaguin, n.d.). These privacy and security regulations serve as the “only national set of regulations that governs

The high cost of healthcare continues to rise and many in the United States are optimistic for health information technology to reduce and improve our current situation. Health IT encompasses a broad array of new technologies designed to manage and share health-related information. When properly implemented, these systems can help coordinate patient care, reduce medical errors, and improve administrative efficiency. Therefore, implementing a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) will help the National Health Information Network (NHIN) achieve their goals in improving quality of care for the citizens of the United States. Thus, in order for the health IT to deliver on its promise, several obstacles must be overcome.

Health Information Exchange, (HIE) is when hospitals, clinics, share the same health information throughout the same secure system.

There are many challenges associated with HHR. For example, there must be additional instructions to find the storage locations of patients’ health information. The instructions must show whether the documents are in electronic, paper, or scanned format. An additional process to link all of documentation formats needs to be deployed so that patients’ data can be collected and saved accurately. Not all the time those extra helps are available. Therefore, composing and organizing a completed HHR take a significant amount of time for health information management (HIM) professionals to gather all paper records and retrieve digital documents. The functions of HIM professionals encounter many challenges when working with HHR. The privacy and security policies for different types of records must be fully reinforced. Moreover, the updated data for each HHR have to be kept in detail for accuracy of information and easy accessing. In case of disclosing information requests, HIM professionals face a big burden of locating and verifying the information that is needed to fulfill the reasonable demand while limiting the release of information to the minimum. HIM professionals sometimes have to search through multiple systems to find the requested documents. According to Dimick, another disadvantage of the HHR system is when healthcare organizations participate in quality

Health Information Exchange (HIE) has become a major component in today’s healthcare. Health information exchange provides a secure way for providers to appropriately access and electronically share a patient’s medical information. Therefore, reducing duplicate testing, minimizing medication errors and providing a link among electronic health records (EHR) in order to provide quality healthcare.

Responsibility of the medical office specialist she must understand that she is under contract to keep the patients Health information (PHI) confidential. Managed care, and outlines the role of the medical office specialist he/she will have to organize (MCO) contracts. It also explains the importance of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) this person's role and responsibility of the medical office specialist in protecting all patients' protected health information (PHI) (Vines-Allen,D. 4/2015 pg 19). The Privacy Rule pertains to all PHI, including paper and electronic forms.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) supports both transferring and sharing of health related information that is usually stored in multiple organizations, while maintaining the context and integrity of the information being exchanged (HIE, 2014). The goal of health information exchange is to expedite access to and retrieve clinical data to provide safe efficient, effective, equitable, timelier patient-centered care (HIE, 2014). HIE “provides access and retrieval of patient information to authorized users in order to provide safe, efficient, effective, and timely patient care” (HIE, 2014).

HIE face a range of challenges as they try to get hundreds and even thousands of participants in sharing data. Getting data in front of doctors and other clinicians is one of the biggest challenges HIEs face. Ideally, it would be delivered directly to a providers' EMR system, so when a patient goes to an outside lab for blood tests, the results would show up in the electronic record at the doctor's office, and the doctor would be notified that the results are there. However, with limited EMR use across the country, HIEs have had to provide alternative delivery methods. HIE is considered to be one of the key components of the national health IT infrastructure being established by the HITECH Act. Policymakers and health care providers believe this health IT infrastructure will produce a number of benefits, many of which are directly related to HIE.

Electronic health information exchange (HIE) allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically. With improving the value, speed, safety, and cost of the totals patient care.

Policies and procedures govern the operations of health information exchange (HIE), and many factors must be taken into consideration during their development or revision. They set expectations for the workforce, delineate staff training and accountability, and must be part of an ongoing education and compliance program, enforced by leadership. When using this environment, you want to make sure the information is protected and secures the confidentiality of the person.

Health information exchange (HIE) is the process of transporting medical-related information electronically between healthcare providers. Health information exchange was formed by the Hartford Foundation in 1990, with the establishment of Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS). Today, there are many models and forms that support health information exchange. Healthcare providers and organizations may have challenges with this new way of exchanging patient information, however, there are plenty of advantages that not only benefit the providers but the patients as well.

Health Information Exchange is the electronic movement of healthcare information amongst organizations according to the national standards. HIE as it is widely known, serves the purpose of providing a safe, timely, and efficient way of accessing or retrieving patient clinical data. Health Information Exchange allows for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other vital healthcare professionals to have appropriate access and securely share vital medical information regarding patient care. Health Information Exchange has been in efforts of developing for over 20 years in the United States. In 1990 the Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS) program was formed by the Hartford Foundation to foster a development of a centralized data repository in seven different geographically defined communities. Many of the communities struggled in securing a cost-effective technology with interoperable data sources and gaining political support. In the mid-1990s a similar initiative began known as the Community Health Information Networks (CHINs) with the intention of sharing data between providers in a more cost-effective manner. In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Health Information Technology Portfolio was funded $166 million in grants and contracts to improve the quality and safety to support more patient-centered care. This was the beginning of the progress we have seen in HIE today. Health Information Exchange devolvement serves the purpose of improving

The Health information exchange or also known as HIE is the sending of healthcare-related data electronically to facilities, health information organizations and government agencies according to national standards. The goal is to be able to access and retrieve data more efficient, safer, and to improve the quality of care and patient safety and reduce healthcare costs.