Disclosure to patients

Disclosure to patients

Outline

The aim of the paper is to explore HIPPA, AMA standards etc and the moral and ethical values involved with it. HIPAA is the major sweeping and serious legislation to affect healthcare and medicine since Medicare in 1965

Hypothesis A physician shall respect the rights of patients, colleagues, and other health professionals, and shall safeguard patient confidences and privacy within the constraints of the law. The privacy regulations compliment this admonition.

Over the years the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs has issued many opinions and interpretations of the Principals

Introduction HIPAA is the most sweeping and intensive legislation to affect healthcare and medicine since Medicare in 1965. Nearly everyone involved in healthcare and medicine will be affected in some way: (Baltimore, 234-67)

Healthcare providers (doctors, hospitals, clinics)

Payors (insurance companies)

Employees

Clearing Houses

Practice Management system vendors

Billing Agents

Service Organizations

Goals

* Ensure access to and the portability of healthcare insurance * Reduce healthcare fraud and abuse

* Simplify and standardize electronic administrative processes

* Guarantee security and privacy of health information [this was the primary concern by the public as well as legislators]

How information was gathered

The information was gathered by the help of survey an extensive. The survey team gathers data by the help of interviews and research.

Explanation

Context

In the past, no federal laws existed on the books governing patient privacy. Existing state laws vary widely, with many states having more stringent laws than the federal guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS].

If a state law provides greater protection than the baseline provided in HIPAA, then the stronger state law would prevail. The objectives of the legislation were to:

Improve efficiency by standardizing electronic data interchange thru standardized formats, code sets, language, and unique health identifiers (Baltimore, 234-67)

Theory employed

Theory of Medical ethics was employed. As Ethical theory gives guidance but does not seem to provide sufficient help in decisions for the individual cases.

Reduce costs

Ensure security and privacy of healthcare transactions and information. Fund raising is mentioned in only 8 paragraphs in the HIPAA Final Rules, which are over 1,000 pages. Specific to fund rising, HIPAA seeks to regulate patient privacy through the restricted use of protected health information (PHI) for fund raising purposes. Privacy Rule enforcement begins April 14, 2003 (Baltimore, 234-67)

Implementation and enforcement will be handled out of the Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance range from $100 to $250,000 per offense and up to 10 years imprisonment (Baltimore, 234-67)

Important and Relevant Terms

Covered entities: all health care providers, health plans and clearing houses which maintain patient data.

Protected Health Information (PHI): all individually identifiable health information and other information on treatment and care that is transmitted or maintained in any form or medium (electronic, paper, oral, etc…) (Jill, 56-77)

Protected Health Information is owned by the patient. HIPAA gives patients rights as to how their PHI is used:

- Right to a copy of The Notice of Privacy Practices

- Right to access, inspect and copy one's PHI

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