Privacy And Confidentiality Of Health Care Essay

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’’

Privacy legislation and the legal complexities surrounding the ownership and management of patient information, many physicians are wary about when they may or may not release such information to patient and other parties. All patients have the right to the information in their medical records. In certain situations the physicians have the right to refuse the release of patient information to the patient, if the have any reason to believe that the disclosed information would have a reverse effect on the patient’s mental, physical, emotional health, or cause harm to a third party. When needed to be transferred a copy of the information may be sent directly from the former physician to the new one. In other circumstance the patient can receive the record themselves and hand it directly to the new physician. It is recommended that the original files are not released, instead a photocopy or scan of it may be sent. A physician may release patient information to lawyers and other parties when requested to do so only if the patient or the patient's substitute decision-maker has given authorization, preferably in writing, or if authorized by law or a court order.When information is

Patient privacy has been a major concern for patients and medical staff for many years. Patient privacy goes hand in hand with HIPPA and the privacy rule. This protects the privacy of any person of all health information (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Even with this a concern for many, a study conducted by Zogby Internation studies more than 2000 adults to obtain their views on patient privacy. This studied determined that individuals would rather have individual choice and control over personal health information instead of others (Patient Privacy Rights, 2010).

The confidentiality of patient visits and medical records are essential in providing the highest quality of health care. Under penalty of law, a patient's medical records or any other information regarding the patient may only be released with his or her authorization. Exceptions to this are certain cases specified by law for example, health care providers are required to report certain communicable diseases such as measles. Many organizations and laws have been developed to maintain patient's rights of confidentiality and access to their medical record. Guided by the principle that confidentiality is essential in developing strong trust between patients and healthcare providers, the

Seeing information about a healthcare user in such terms makes me realise that some information is not necessarily in the public domain and therefore I have a privilege and responsibility to not only care for the patient but also for the knowledge about them that I am privy to. I realise that, although I have a duty to retain confidentiality, I may be placed in a position where the confidence has to also include other healthcare professionals and I need to involve the patient in such a situation (ibid).

We are all aware that our medical information is available to ourselves as the patient and to any physicians we may see in the course of our medical treatment, but do we realize who else has access to our records without our knowledge or permission? I decided to write about release of information after I had a notification at work that I could not look at my own records after notifying HIM there was a coding error. This paper is not meant to be all encompassing but will include the reasons Law enforcement might be allowed PHI without the patient’s knowledge or consent.

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.

But when those involved in these legitimate activities make demands that seem inappropriate, the records must be protected. Disclosure of personal medical information should also be subject to patients’ or families’ consent (Richmond et al. 2009).

The personal Health Information Protection Act sets out rules for the collection, use and disclosure of personal Health information. I discussed with my preceptor situations that demonstrate confidentiality regulations. she explained to me while counseling patient she always respects patient's confidentiality by providing private counseling area. Health information of the patient is shared only with health care professionals. With some exceptions, the legislation requires health information custodians to obtain consent before they collect, use or disclose personal health information. Individual have the right to access and request correction of their own personal health information. I also discussed about OCP code of ethics relevant to the

Giving an individual the right to divulge only what they feel is necessary and appropriate for their situation gives them a sense of safety in what is known and able to be disclosed to others. All medical personal know that privacy of patients is their main priority in caring for each individual person; in so doing they know that any and all discussions of patients should be done in areas where no one is privy to over hearing or ease dropping on the conversation. In the issue of privacy of care nurses more so than any other person in the medical field have to make sure that they work diligently to keep all patients privacy intact, because nurses are the ones who have the most direct and intimate contact with the patients. “Patient confidentiality is a sacred trust. Nurses are important in ensuring that organizations create an environment to safeguard patients’ rights to confidentiality. As stated in the ANA Code of Ethics,” (ANA, 2001). Medical privacy is really important. When maintaining the privacy of medical information it saves a lot of lives because without the assurance of privacy people would avoid life-enhancing and life-saving treatments. If people feel that their information is not being protected then they will avoid getting treatment done. Privacy isn’t only a means to the

Confidentiality is a concept of vast importance for professionals in the medical field. It is a professional obligation in this field and is considered to be an ethical concept that falls in line with integrity, compassion, veracity, charity, and fidelity as explained in both the International Council of Nurses Code for Nurses (1973) and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics (1985). However, in today’s ever growing world of technology and demand for information, challenges continue to arise that force doctors and nurses to reexamine virtues such as confidentiality.

Breaches in confidentiality can have a harmful impact on information causing serious implications in potential patient outcomes. It is the duty of a cancer registry professional to keep patients information private and used for only the means it is intended. Patients have the right to privacy and their medical record should not be shared without the consent of the patient. The question formed for research involves the role of a Health Information Management (HIM) practitioner in regards to confidentiality within the code of ethics of cancer registries. Protected Health Information (PHI) is personal information in a patient’s chart that is private and not to be shared without consent from that patient. “Under HIPAA, Protected Health Information

The Health Information Privacy Bill of Rights, developed with the American Psychoanalytic Association, comes at a critical time when, with the nationwide implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), the issue of patient privacy is more important than ever. With the advent of electronic records, it has been pointed out that it’s possible to improperly disclose identifiable electronic health information of millions of patients almost instantly.

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

Confidentiality is considered a core value or principal in the medical practice. Confidentiality is a right that all people have within the medical field. This is the requirement of health care providers to keep a person’s information exclusive unless the patient or the person consents in the form of a release to share that information with other people that practice. Usually the consent is given when a doctor wants to consult with a different doctor for example. In this case it would be for the betterment of the person.