Protected Health Information Privacy, Security and Confidentiality Best Practices Course: Nursfpx 4040

PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY, SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY BEST PRACTICES

Priority: High

The objective of Protected health information (PHI) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is to safeguard an individual’s health information, and at the same time allow different healthcare units to implement advanced technologies to expand the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients. Considering that healthcare is a diverse field, the security rules put in place is intended to be flexible, and accessible such that covered organizations can apply the policies, measures, and appropriate technologies suitable for the organizational structure. 

Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality

The privacy rules cover the usage and sharing of a person’s health data known as PHI by entities such as hospitals, long-term care homes, ambulatory care centers and other healthcare settings (Jiang & Bai, 2019). A patient has a right to decide how to use personal information (Jiang & Bai, 2019). For example, not disclosing a person’s PHI to the employer or family members. Security covers the measures put in place to protect the means used to secure data and protect client’s privacy and protect professionals holding the confidential information (Craig, 2017, p. 14). This includes software that limits unauthorized access to protected health information. For example, PHI includes diagnosis, the name physician who treated the patient and the medications given to the patient, this information should not be disclosed to a third party. Confidentiality means the obligation of healthcare practitioners who access patient records to keep the information in confidence (Moore & Frye, 2019, p. 269). It also refers to the communication between two individuals in a professional relation, such as a patient and a nurse, physician or any healthcare professional (Moore & Frye, 2019, p. 270). An example is that physicians are not allowed to share patient’s information disclosed to them in the course of doctor-patient relations