Healthcare Administrator



Healthcare Administrator

Introduction

Healthcare professionals work in a complex working environment, associated with several laws, regulations, and standards of practice. Every encounter with the patient involves various issues with respect to legal and ethical views. Most physicians strive to provide their patients, optimal, high-quality care with highest ethical and legal values. Health care providers, who are unaware of the legal and ethical issues pertaining to their dealing with the patients, are at a significant disadvantage. In a hospital setting, the healthcare administration form the basic governance. It also overviews the legal implications of the healthcare facility, implicitly and explicitly based on law and the legal system of the country (Avoiding Medicare Fraud & Abuse: A Roadmap for Physicians, 2012).

Discussion

Importance of the physician-patient and hospital-patient relationships

The relationship between physician-patient and hospital-patient are primary factors leading to legal implications. As health care administrator, holds the highest position to overview the hospital, as a whole. He/she needs to put in serious effort to avoid any legal issues to take place.

Physician-patient relationships

Physician-patient relationship plays a vital role in the healing alliance. A patient entrust the physician when he agrees to seek treatment from him/her. This bounds the physicians to numerous legal and ethical obligations towards their patient. The Code of Medical Ethics of American Medical Association (AMA) states that ethical values and legal issues are quite similar. Hence, the physicians should know both legal and ethical obligations. The breach of physician-patient relationship occurs in varying ways, including confidentiality issues, informed consents, and patient safety. Breach in any of these variables can lead to legal implications. The health care administrator keeps a check over the relationships of physician-patient. This can help to identify any potential threats to breach of duty, resulting in legal prosecutions (American Medical Association (AMA), 2013).

Hospital-patient relationships

The physician-patient and hospital-patient relationships overlap to some extent, but they are not identical. Where the physician-patient relation can exist outside the hospital as well, hospital-patient relation limits itself in some emergency situations. Hospital-patient relations also address the issues of nondiscrimination laws and restrictions of patients. This refers to the hospital's responsibility to patients requiring emergency care, issues concerning discharges, and allocation of scarce resources (Miller & Hutton, 2004, pp. 420-448).

The hospitals receiving Medicare or Medicaid should abide with Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964. This statute forbids all discrimination on the basis of national origin, color, or race. The Title III of American with Disabilities Act (ADA) also prohibits hospitals discrimination of disabled people. Other statutes forbidding discrimination in hospitals includes The Age Discrimination of 1975 and State Laws. Furthermore, federal and state laws forbid the hospitals to recruit the patients by offering benefits to people who arrange the admissions. Some other statues relating to admissions of patients include the Common law Right to Admission, Contractual Rights to Admission, Hill-Burton Community Service, and Statutory Right to Admission. Furthermore, hospitals receiving Medicare needs to plan their discharge process. This section refers to tension between the liability, which can result from either ...