BHA-FPX 4106 Introduction to Managing Health Care Information

Legal Considerations and a Plan for Compliance

Confidentiality and security measures remind healthcare professionals about the duty to take responsible steps to keep patient details confidential. Keeping information out of reach is a priority that makes everyone extra vigilant when handling sensitive information (Tariq & Hackert, 2020). Similarly, members of the care team should identify parties with authorization and permission to access to discuss protected health information (Sorbie, 2020). Further, training and education make everyone responsive to calls for confidential information. HIPAA security rule includes administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure data integrity and confidentiality. Security measures include risks assessment, workforce training, and access controls appropriate for ensuring data integrity.

Any patient information that could be used to personally identify a patient divulges PHI and should thus be protected. Some information might not be part of PHI, such as test results that do not divulge any information about the patient. This result might be printed out on a piece of paper with no other identifying information with private information orally communicated to the doctor, or the only information available being the pseudonym of the patient. Any PHI used in the medical environment should be destroyed as soon as it is done being used. PHI entered into an EHI should be filed under a pseudonym and be subject to all security rules.

Conclusion

To summarize, all PHI and HIE should be analyzed semi-annually to be certain that patient data is private and cannot be accidentally or easily made accessible. In addition, all patient data should be reviewed to be sure it follows HIPAA policy. HIPAA rules guide all healthcare professionals to adhere to standards, guidelines, and procedures on securing protected health information across the continuum.

References

Abouelmehdi, K., Beni-Hessane, A., & Khaloufi, H. (2018). Big healthcare data: Preserving security and privacy. Journal of Big Data, 5(1), 1-18. https://journalofbigdata.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40537-017-0110-7