Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Information Management

Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Information Management

My experience with the legal and ethical aspects of health information management have been with patient’s protected health information in a medical record and the use of telemedicine in my admissions department where I worked. I worked with patients in the rehab department. I became very familiar with the ethical and legal aspects of health information management my boss was the Director of rehab. Based on fundamental concepts, protecting health information and its use is a top priority. With telemedicine patients are now assessed more quickly and can access a wide variety of providers. Patients are able to visualize and personalize their experience with their physician the remote access called telemedicine. Legally and ethically our system is set up to be both secure and private. Our entire admission process has been improved affecting positively on clinical outcomes.

The AHIMA code of ethics serves seven purposes, Promotes high standards of HIM (Health Information Management)practice, Identifies core values on which the HIM mission is based, Summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession's core values, Establishes a set of ethical principles to be used to guide decision-making and actions, Establishes a framework for professional behavior and responsibilities when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arise, Provides ethical principles by which the general public can hold the HIM professional accountable,(October 2, 2011)

   With this there are several components to the ethical and legal aspects of health information management,along with this comes the protection of patient rights. Most of patient’s health information is now computerized, stored in electronic health records and transmitted via the internet, or just in a companies private network unless needed else ware. Legal and ethical aspects of health information management define how protected health information is handled and disclosed. These enormous databases of medical information offer improved access to timely information, evidence-based treatments, and complete records from which to provide care (Angst, 2009). Things don't always work the way we want to, although things are getting better.Our ethics standards, Hippocratic Oath and those of AHIMA clearly define how we are ethically bound to protect our patients and do no harm (Cassidy, 2011). Legal parameters set the boundaries by which healthcare providers must maintain and protect health information. Laws and rules are written in order to ensure that this practice is upheld and for those who break those rules penalties are assigned. Some people do not care about the rules, we once had a patients family come in and demand information, or I think maybe they wanted their family member to be discharged so they could go home, the person with the gun needed money. It didn't work we were able to get him to leave, we then had armed security there for awhile. Things can get scary sometimes.

 Ethical parameters set boundaries on behaviors that are normalized within society. Individuals often learn ethical boundaries from their parents, mentors,society and religion. In health information management legal and ethical considerations are mandatory when assuming the responsibility of securing and keeping protected health information private no matter who thinks they have the right. Federal and state regulatory requirements such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  Ethical issues often surround how security and privacy and healthcare decisions are made in healthcare information management. Protecting patient confidentiality is a key factor in obtaining and retaining trust, protecting the patient and maintaining professionalism at all times (Warren, 2014). Although I sometimes wonder if the VHA (Veterans Health

Administration) Hospitals follow these guidelines. I have been a patient a couple of times and I wonder. I felt I was alone in the dark, a lot of lack of communication. Well it doesn't surprise me how things are going in the VA.

Legal and ethical issues aspects of healthcare information management have drastically impacted society today. Some people like it some people don't Some Presidents think they are helping everyone with the healthcare plan they come up with. One has to realize not everyone will agree with the changes in health care today.What they do have to realize is this is the way things are now. There will be improvements and in the long run, it will be better for the majority.

 With the vast array of mobile devices that are available, health information management must encompass all of these areas in order to protect the privacy and security of an individual's information. Technologies rapid development creates new issues that providers and IT developers must keep abreast of. With all these devises available portability and accessibility of EHR data raises ethical questions regarding ownership of protected health information. Clinicians' responsibility to prevent and inform patients of the potential for privacy breaches.You never know when someone may try to hack your secure system, laws are ever changing, just like everything in this technology world. We have to take the good with the bad.

With that being said there are still challenges to define the boundaries between accessing and permissions parameters within mobile devices.After all mobile devises are the wave of the future

and they are not going away! 

References:

http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_024277.hcsp?dDocName=bok1_024277(October 2011)

Angst, C. M. (2009). Protect my privacy or support the common-good? ethical questions about electronic health information exchanges. Journal of Business Ethics, 90, 169-178. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0385-5

Cassidy, B.  (2011).  AHIMA's Code of Ethics. Journal of AHIMA, 82(3), 10.  Retrieved from the ProQuest database.

Warren, L. (2014). Who needs to know? Occupational Health, 66(3), 18-20. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1512597244?accountid=32521