Question Description
Discussion reply, at least 175 words no plagiarism no copy and paste
(5Maryse)
Research
a HIPPA security or privacy violation found in the case study folder .
Was The Consent Verbal or Written? Does the case dicuss the element’s of
informed consent ? The Health Insurances Portability Acountability Act (
HIPAA) was passed by the Congress intend’s to proctect a patient’s
access to insurances later, security policies were added to cover the
electronic sharing of Medical Records . Despite The fact that these have
been in effect for more two decades there is still confusion, over
their application.HIpAA calls those records protected health information
. “IT’s sets for the polices and standards for how patient information
including doctor’s. For there self obtaining acess permission from the
patient .
(5Tyler)
A privacy violation that I have found
when I researched was from Edward Hospital. I was partially aware of
the issue before I researched but I thought it would be a pretty good
one to share. There was a student (Corey Walgren) from Naperville North
High School who had committed suicide at the beginning of last year. A
female classmate of Coreys told a dean that she had learned that Corey
had a recording of the sexual encounter they had shortly before
Christmas and believed he had showed it to friends. Corey was eating
lunch that day when a school administrator asked to speak with. He was
taken to the deans office where a Naperville police officer and dean
awaited. They had talked with Corey for 18 minutes before contacting his
parents letting them know what had happened. Corey was very scared and
left the school by foot and eventually jumped off a top floor of a
parking deck plummeting 53 feet.
Corey was later pronounced dead at Edward Hospital. Edward Hospital notified Corey’s parents that 19 employees from the hospital and its affiliates had accessed Corey’s medical records after his death without authorization. The article doesn’t explain what the consequences were of these employees. The victim of this breach was Corey Walgren who had passed away. From what I have heard from co-workers, the 19 hospital employees were disciplined by upper management but the severity of the punishments are unknown to me. Personally working at the hospital, we are constantly told that we should not be accessing an account that we have no business being in and that if we do, it could lead up to employee termination. A link below is provided to anybody who would like to read more about this specific story.
(6Belen)
Legal issues with electronic health records (EHR) revolve around who can access EHR, how is EHR used, maintaining confidentiality, ensuring EHR is secured, how the data is presented to the physicians, authentication compliance, and admissibility in a lawsuit. While cyber-security remains a hot topic with theft of EHR surpassing electronic credit card theft, providers have increased liabilities with EHR. One thing I did not realize but makes sense is that providers are responsible for reviewing all records they have access to. Therefore, with increased interoperability, providers will expected to review all patients records.
As providers continue to transition from one system of documenting and providing care to another system driven by new digital technology, there are increased risks with human error with documentation. Below are some risks providers should caution against:
- Drop down menus to auto populate text: If providers make an error in their selection, the patients EHR can contain wrong information.
- Copy and paste functionality: Providers can unintentionally become lazy and not provide the best information which can have an impact on other specialists treating the same patient on the same day.
- Potential autofill when filling a prescription: The example provided was a physician who typed “FLO” with the intent to prescribe flonase and the autofill technology completed the text with flomax. The physician did not realize the mistake and completed the prescription order.
- Bulk co-signing: This may cause neglect in reviewing the records properly before signing.
- Errors with template documentation: If errors are made and not corrected in a reasonable amount of time can be seen as fraud.
Many challenges that the health care industry will need to continue to overcome as we strive for quality care.
(Tyler6)
There are many legal issues that surround electronic health records. Some of the legal issues that surround electronic health records are:
- Vulnerability to fraud claims
- Risk for medical malpractice claims
- Likelihood of medical record errors
- Theft, breaches and unauthorized access to protected health information
One of the biggest issues in my opinion is breaches and unauthorized access to protected health information. According to Gamble (2012), “the number of patients affected by health data breaches has been on the rise, with 5.4 million affected in 2010 compared to roughly 2.9 million patients affected in 2010, the last year for which such data is available”. The number of patients affected is outrageous. When you think about this, 5.4 million out of the total population is just about one in every one hundred. For medical record errors, too much dependability on electronic health records can result is small mistakes that in turn lead to medical errors. Keep in mind, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
The amount of physicians now-a-days are increasing in the use of EMR’s in their practice. According to Gamble (2012), “in Nov. 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the percentage of physicians who’ve adopted basic EMRs in their practice doubled from 17 to 34 percent from 2008-2011”. With that being said, the more physicians who use EMRs, the more likely that there could be a possibility of a medical record error. In 2018, I am pretty sure the 34 percent has at least doubled for the amount of physicians that use EMRs.
