Safe Harbor Method

Ultimately, the software, equipment and cloud solutions the companies and vendors provide will have to demonstrate a high quality of security and reliability. Patients’ private medical data as well as their lives are at risk in this new arena of technology.

The genetic information nondiscrimination act of 2008 protects people from losing their health insurance or employment due to genetic discrimination. The health insurance and portability act of 1966 (HIPAA) aids in prohibiting health insurers from being involved with genetic discrimination. States that publishing personal information will result in fines up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in jail.

“Facebook remains the most popular platform for those using just one social media site—fully 79% of those who use just one site report using Facebook. Most Facebook users are actively engaging with their networks on the site. As opposed to simply reading or viewing content, 65% of Facebook users frequently or sometimes share, post or comment on Facebook” (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, et al, 2015). As discussed previously, privacy and confidentiality is a right that everyone has no matter what. Therefore, healthcare professional’s privacy and communication cannot be entered and examined however; rules and guidelines have been put into place to manage confidentiality in the healthcare setting. In 2003, these guidelines were manifested and are known as the Privacy Rules, which are controlled by HIPAA. These rules were established to safeguard personal identifiable health data, which include an individual’s date of birth, social security number, address, photographs that may identify the patient, and past and current medical history (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). HIPAA defines “individually identifiable health information” as information that is a subdivision of health data, including demographic information gathered from an individual and is generated or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse and connects to the previous, current or future physical or

The article, Keep Privacy in Health Records, was written by the Monitor's Editorial Board on February 2, 2009. It condemns some of the provisions of a House Bill that was passed by the ACLU and other privacy groups. According to this bill, data encryption would ensure that authorized persons are barred from accessing patient’s health records in the institution. Audit trails are also crucial in determining and tracking who accessed the records, at what time and what type of information did he/she get. Lastly, the patients should be allowed to see their records to improve their notification and strengthen enforcement in health institutions. However, despite these initiatives to improve accountability and confidentiality of patient’s records in most institutions, the board believes that the bill has not solved some of the privacy issues as far as patient health records are concerned.

NCHICA Research Work Group Privacy and Confidentiality Focus Group. (2001). Using Protected Health Information (PHI) for Research Purposes. Retrieved from http://www.nchica.org/HIPAAResources/Samples/PHI.pdf

Recent developments in technology have changed the delivery of health care and the system used to record and retrieve health information. In addition to using paper medical records, healthcare professionals, hospitals and insurers routinely use computers, phones, faxes, and other methods or recording and transferring information. In many instances, this information - which could include medical diagnoses, prescriptions, or insurance information - is readily available to anyone (including clerical and other staff) who walks by a fax machine or logs on to a computer. This lack of privacy has the potential to undermine patients' relationships with providers and adversely affect the quality of care. Patients may also fear that the exposure of personal health information, including the results of genetic tests that are becoming increasing available, could result in the loss or denial of health insurance, job discrimination or personal embarrassment.

Procedures and policies govern, and are employed by, professionals working with children. They also set out the requirements by local national council, and how this affects them in their day to day working practices. These legislative documents include, for example: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015. The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families 2000.

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’’

and patients. Also, it will give recommendations on how to improve the implementation of this

Nationally, the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created to ensure that patient data remained as confidential as it possibly could. The Privacy Rule Act highlights the use and disclosure of confidential patient information. The biggest achievement of this Privacy Rule is that it not only allows for patient data to remain confidential, but it also ensures that there is a proper flow of information that is required to care for the patient adequately. Under the 2016 Florida Statutes, section 456.057 of Florida Statutes defines a record owner as any health care practitioner who, upon conducting a physical or mental examination, creates a record of the results. It is important to understand just who a records owner is so that the person who may be held liable in case of a disclosure of information is known. A records owner id also said to include a person to whom patient’s medical

In this paper, I will discuss the principles that permit disclosure of protected health information with or without the patient’s consent for each of the four categories, government agencies, legal agencies or representatives and research groups. I will also state whether I feel privacy safeguards are adequate to support those principles.

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).

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.

The quote by John F. Kennedy - “There is always inequality in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded and some men never leave the country. Life is unfair” - seems to sum just about everything when life throws you a curveball. In tough times we all have to have a safe harbor. A safe harbor is a place or state of mind that one goes in times of worry or trouble, they go there to wait out the storm, to rest the mind, or to get away from worry.

The correlation of increased potential patient rights violations and sensitive personal health data among electronic medical records than paper records is growing at an alarming rate. An estimated 52,000 public comments was reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring privacy regulations governing individually identifiable health information since the passage of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPPA). The individually identifiable health information includes demographic data that relates to the individuals past, present, or future physical or mental health condition. In addition, the provision of health care rights of the individual, confidentiality, protection of