The Privacy And Ethics Of The Connecticut Department Of Developmental Services

The objective of this study is to investigate safeguards and decision-making support tools embedded in patient care technologies and information systems to support a safe practice environment for both patients and healthcare workers. This work will additionally discuss the principles of data integrity, professional ethics, and legal requirements related to data security, regulatory requirements, confidentiality, and client's right to privacy. The scenario in this study involves emergency workers in Marin County, California are using the technology that involves QR codes or 'Quick Response' Codes to save lives in emergencies. Lifesquare has collaborated with two emergency response agencies in the county to conduct a year-long pilot program. Lifesquare wants residents to input personal information about their medications into its website and then place corresponding QR code stickers where emergency workers can find and scan them in the case of an emergency. These stickers are available from a local pharmacy. Another company, ID Amber has a Security Code printed on a tag, which can be scanned readily. Another company ScanMedQR.com, manufacturer of silicon bracelets, cards for wallets and necklaces that have QR codes on them that provide quick access to health records. The assumption in this study is that elderly neighbors have heard of pilot study yet have worries about the new technology. They have requested additional information about the technology

Health experts and other taking an interest healthcare suppliers are changing their strategies to guarantee that patient data is conveyed in a protected, safe setting. Access frameworks store healthcare data notwithstanding actualizing a framework so patient(s) can get to their medical records safely. Required warning ought to be conveyed concerning strategy and techniques joined by a reimbursement statement must be present with sees being sent to all interested parties.

1.1 Identify legislation and codes of practice that relate to handling information in health and socail care

. 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.

According to both HIPPA and HITECH, an organization must have policies and procedures in place to enforce data storage integrity. This means the organization must take measure to protect healthcare information from an unauthorized user and there must be a way to successfully retrieve any and all patient information in the health information system. By doing so, the organization is ensuring integrity, inadvertent disclosure and availability of their records (Hawkins, 2013).

Although the EHR is still in a transitional state, this major shift that electronic medical records are taking is bringing many concerns to the table. Two concerns at the top of the list are privacy and standardization issues. In 1996, U.S. Congress enacted a non-for-profit organization called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law establishes national standards for privacy and security of health information. HIPAA deals with information standards, data integrity, confidentiality, accessing and handling your medical information. They also were designed to guarantee transferred information be protected from one facility to the next (Meridan, 2007). But even with the HIPAA privacy rules, they too have their shortcomings. HIPAA can’t fully safeguard the limitations of who’s accessible to your information. A short stay at your local

Explanation: According to both HIPAA and ARRA regulations, healthcare organizations compels to allow all reasonable efforts to limit the disclosure of information to the minimum necessary data to accomplish the purpose of the request (McWay, 2010). Based on the information provided, the request for PHI fails to specify the date of validity of the release of PHI. According to the HIPAA privacy rule, a request for the release of PHI is invalid if the request meets the following specifications (1) expiration date not specified that is related to purpose of disclosure, or the date on the request for information has elapse, (2) If the authorization request have been revoked, (3) failure to clearly state the intended purpose of release of information, (4) failure to provide signature and date of authorizing the disclosure of information ( or failure to provide specification of the representative’s authority to act on behalf of the patients), and (5) failure to specify the entity disclosing and the recipient entity (Department of Health & Human Services, 2004). There

Regulation placed upon the healthcare system only seek to improve safety and security of the patients we care for. The enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and the enactment of Meaningful Use Act the United States government has set strict regulations on the security of health information and has allotted for stricter penalties for non-compliance. The advancement of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought greater fluidity and compliance with healthcare but has also brought greater security risk of protected information. In order to ensure compliance with government standards organizations must adapt

Quality patient care requires the communication of relevant information between health professionals and/or health systems. Healthcare professionals who regularly work with patients and their confidential medical records should contribute to the development of standards, policies, and laws that protect patient privacy and the confidentiality of health records/information.

Modern communications capabilities open up a world of possibilities for all types of medical practices to develop deeper connections with their patients and to manage health care remotely. The HIPAA Privacy Rule gives patients the right to obtain copies of their medical records, treatments and protected health information or PHI. These requirements go further if medical providers want to receive reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid -- patients must be able to access their records online, download copies and transmit the information to third-party providers. Most medical practices are finding it necessary to develop patient portals where patients and physicians can interact, share information and perform important functions such as practices billing patients and accepting payments online. HIPAA 's rules require that these patient portals have strong security and privacy protections to prevent unauthorized access of these confidential PHI records.

HIPAA and HITECH Act help address several problems associated with inappropriate use of healthcare information by authorized users. HIPAA requires minimum necessary infor-mation to be released while HITECH goes into a little further detail but still to release minimum necessary information. Several different organizations need to define how they go about han-dling inappropriate use of information. A guideline must be set within the organization on who will have access to the information and how it is disbursed to other healthcare organizations re-questing records.

Release or not to release is the question in today’s healthcare? Being a patient, and going to a doctor’s appointment has really changed versus how it was years ago. Most of us as patients know that we have a right to our own health information, but how is this beneficial to us as patients and healthcare providers? As healthcare is increasingly becoming complex what are ways to enforce these policies and rules? HIPAA rules and standards will need to be the same in each state so there is interoperability the proper way, but will we be able to really accomplish this? This paper will discuss these aspects and ways to overcome these obstacles that are occurring.

The department of Health and Human Services protects and guides the health and well being of individuals here in America (Thacker, 2014). They fulfill these duties providing Americans with adequate and efficient health and human services and monitoring services designed to increase the efficiency of care in the health system (Thacker, 2014). One of the services being monitored by the department of Health and Human Services is the electronic health record system, which carries private and vital information of patient’s health record enabling all eligible participating health workers access to these records (Thacker, 2014). A breach of the protective health information of patients in a health organization creates chaos as these are against the health insurance portability and accountability (HIPAA) law (Thacker, 2014). Hence, measure will have to be put in place to determine what caused the breach and how to rectify it to ensure the breach never happens again (Thacker, 2014).

The responsibility of a database administrator is to serve as the link between the database designers, knowledge managers and users. The database designers are often brought in for completing specific projects and then moving onto other projects at other companies or different departments at the same company. Their job are usually finished when they finish designing the database. While they may be used in the future to perform some