HIPAA Case Scenarios

The Medical Assistant’s Creed is a collection of formal statements that reflect the morals and values that a medical assistant should adhere to daily. Each line holds its own meaning and together they reflect the different areas of responsibility that a medical office assistant has regarding patient care, self-betterment, daily practices, and ethics.

It deal with well-being of children and young people from birth to 19. Children welfare is paramount. Every child matters legislation apply to every child, whatever their background or circumstances, children should healthy, stay safe from harm or abuse, enjoy and achieve their goals in life. Make positive and healthy contribution and experience economic well-being. Any organisation working with children and young adult must work together to safeguard children in all ways. (EveryChildMatters, 2005.)

HIPAA regulations state that when using or disclosing PHI (protected health information) or when requesting PHI from another covered entity (a doctor’s office, dental practice, etc), a covered entity must make reasonable efforts to limit PHI, to the minimum necessary, to accomplish the intended purpose of the use, disclosure or request.

The compliance program is a program that helps assist small physician healthcare facilities in developing a dependable compliance plan that regulates and promotes federal healthcare programs that 's built for better operating of a business("OIG Compliance Program for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices ," 2000). A reliable plan must put into place in all healthcare practices for it to operate professionally. All physicians and staff members must follow the laws that are evident to the practice business and carry them out accordingly. There are many ways to educate employees on the compliance plan which may include meetings, handbooks, manuals, and classes to test their knowledge. In any given situation patients are depending on staff members to educate them and help them seek the right answers to their questions and concerns. A physician 's promise is to treat all patients the same regardless of their condition or finance state because patients and their loved ones are putting a lot of trust in them. If a patient has a patient directive on file, it must be followed out as the patient 's wishes and explained to the

In the following paper, I will be discussing many ways of being professional, while being in a healthcare setting. Being professional in any setting is highly encouraged, although at times it may be challenging. Occasionally, people may have encountered several situations were there have been misunderstandings or perhaps a clash of different characters, but although there may be disagreements, being polite and civilized is the upmost proper way to deal with such situation.

I feel the same as you. I didn 't realize the impact of HIPAA violations until doing this research for the discussions board. I always knew HIPAA was serious but not to the extent of what I 'm learning. There are so many opportunities for violating HIPAA that I can 't believe more people are not impacted by this. It feels that my facility has all of the up to date technology in place but none of the workers are aware of it. I have raised a few eyebrows at work over the past few days it hops to tighten all the loopholes that I am now aware of. Hopefully my new found discussions at work will prevent many co-workers the hardships from the consequences of a HIPAA violation.

It is important that a health care professional has these attributes in order to work successfully in their professions. They must have full dedication for the care of their patients and true passion to improve the individual’s health. They must show understanding and empathy towards each person’s situation and always keep confidentiality. One of the most important attributes is the ability to have courage to speak up when needed. This means acting as an advocate for the patient.

When it pertains to patient health information discretion is paramount. Protecting patients from threats that could endanger their rights is essential and the primary reason for safeguarding their personal information is to secure the interest of the individuals who are entrusting the organization with their information. There are however breaches to individuals’ private health information. In the healthcare field one common legal issue is HIPPA and data breaches. These breaches and failure to comply with the rules can be detrimental to the healthcare organization and most importantly the patients.

It’s maybe perceived through the HIPAA outlined with the intent to illustrate how HIPAA and CFR 42 often conflict. HIPPA protects the client identifiable information and privacy for entities providing service to a client for health and mental care conditions and provision. While the CFR protects the confidentiality of diagnosis, job loss, prognosis, identifiable records, including treatment of any substance client. This collaboration allows the counselor to adhere by the entire laws of them both. I do not agree with the two being in conflict since they both provide privacy to the client and protect of breaching privacy laws for entities or counselors.

According to the US department of health services the most common HIPAA violation in hospitals is the impermissible uses and disclosures of protected health information. A prevalent scenario is when a health care worker accesses files of patients who are not under the worker’s care. Anyone that is not directly related to the patients’ health care or insurance is not allowed to access the patients’ health records. This can be prevented by having all employees participate in HIPPA training after a direct violation of the policy along with mandatory training before their employment. Another preventive measure is informing workers, upon employment, that electronic medical records indirectly allow for monitoring the use and misuse of patient files.

61)...” HIPAA protects information that needs to be protected. It keeps other people from knowing information they do not need to be aware of. I believe healthcare workers should be formally introduced into the guidelines before entering the field so they know what can and cannot be shared. They should also be consulted if any changes are made to the guidelines.

There have been many instances of unauthorized viewing of medical records. Unauthorized viewing of patient records is a violation HIPAA. The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that “protected health information should not be used or disclosed when it is not necessary to satisfy a particular purpose or carry out a function” (Health and Human Services.gov). The case study in which Joe, a staff member accessed medical information after he was allowed access to the hospital to change lightbulbs and the case study in which the daughter of a nurse accessed medical information as a result of the mother leaving the computer unlocked and unattended, are HIPAA violations (i.e both people accessed the medical information illegally). Joe was tasked with changing a lightbulb, but was curious about a patient he knew on a personal level, his neighbor. Joe intentionally accessed his neighbor’s patient file at an empty workstation after the nurse manager neglected to log out or lock the computer before walking away.

The patients have our trust to keep their personal records in the office and not outside. I would treat patient the same way I would like to be treated when I go to a clinic myself. If I am working with my coworkers with the same patient,

Healthcare fraud what is it and who’s impacted by it? Healthcare fraud is a crime that has made a huge financial impact on the private and public sectors health care payment systems, The fraud occurs when someone falsifies a fact related to health care services to obtain or increase payment from a health plan or the government. It also occurs when someone falsifies details in delivery of healthcare services or materials (Kongstvedt, P 2012). Healthcare fraud has cause and continues to be a major economic drain on the healthcare system. It does not matter if it’s an employer sponsored health care plan or individual plan when healthcare fraud is committed all consumers are subjected to higher monthly premiums, increase out of pocket

Patient safety is a critical component when it comes to providing health care to all individuals. It is the freedom from additional harm or injury caused by preventable mistakes. Furthermore, when it comes to our elder’s senior adults, patient safety should be number one. They require more protection from any form of medical errors or additional harm that may jeopardize their safety. Research has shown that if the basis moral standards were applied then patient safety would significantly improve, (Sandars, & Cook., 2009).