Legal & Ethical Aspects of Health Information Management

  

    Legal and ethical aspects of health information management affect all areas of the health care world. With the changing over to electronic health records, both practitioners and patients tend to question what legal issues are put in place in order to maintain the privacy of their records. “The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) asserts that electronic medical records must be stored legally” (Polack, 2009). If records are not stored legally, they can be deemed invalid which can lead to the non-payment of claims from insurance companies. Questions that health care professionals should ask themselves to ensure the integrity of the medical record is kept intact are:

•   Does the system keep a record of who is accessing and writing to the record?
•  Does it contain a security protocol which is strict by not too time-consuming? Features could include an automatic time-out after a period of inactivity, and periodic changes to the alphanumeric passwords.
•  Does the system prevent access to certain critical features? For example, an employee working the front desk shouldn’t be able to edit a patient’s clinical findings.
• Does it use a secure ‘lock-out’ feature
• Does the system write time stamps on all entries, to show an audit trail? (Polack, 2009).

With these questions being asked before choosing new electronic records systems, health care professionals are putting the integrity of the medical record first, thus keeping patient information protected.

                                                                                 (Medline, 2013)                                                      

Technology is taking over the health care industry more and more every day. We can see this happening with the amount of telecommunications and networking that are used in healthcare. One can only imagine the legal and ethical aspects that are intertwined with telecommunications and networking in health care. The legal issues that are questioned with telecommunications and networking are “privacy, unauthorized activities, and intellectual property issues” (McNickle, 2012). There are five keys to legal issues and social media:

1.      Privacy. With social media, the privacy of information is questioned daily. “When thinking about social media in the workplace … if an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy hinges on whether or not the website is password protected” (McNickle, 2012). If the website is in fact password protected, then it is considered that the employee has the expectation of privacy. “If not, then the employers may have the justification to monitor the activities of that site” (McNickle, 2012).

2.      Content Ownership. Content ownership revolves around the question of who owns the content of the website. This is where a Terms of Use page is used to show end users who owns the content of the site.

3.      Intellectual property infringement. “Copyright infringement comes into play where there are photos, videos, graphics and blogs being exchanged and posted on social media sites” (McNickle, 2012). If an employee shares confidential information on a social media site, then said employee would be held liable for their actions.

4.      Unauthorized activities. Unauthorized activities include “harassment, discrimination, defamation, disclosure of confidential information and criminal activities – which are all address in the same manner as if they happened offline” (McNickle, 2012).

5.      Regulatory compliance. Regulatory compliance is the area that has had the most scrutiny. “When looking at healthcare, HIPAA requires a patient’s identity and personal health information to be protected” (McNickle, 2012).

Ethically speaking, telecommunications and networking should only be used for the good of the organization and to keep patients knowledgeable about what is available for their health information or health needs.

References:

Chandra Pani, S, MD. (2008). Legal and ethical issues in the care of individuals with special

            Needs. Retrieved from http://specialchilddentistry.blogspot.com/2008_20_01.html

McNickle, M. (2012).  5 keys to the legal issues of social media in healthcare. Healthcare IT

            News. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/5-keys-legal-issues-social-

            media?page=0

Medline. (2013). Getting started with social media in healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.

            Leadingage.org/Getting_Started_with_Social_Media_in_Healthcare.aspx

Polack, P, (2009). Legal issues of the electronic medical record. Medical Practice Trends.

            Retrieved from http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/2009/07/19/emr-legal-issues

Current Health Information Systems

           

 Health care information systems have been being upgraded more recently due to the need to transition to electronic medical records. “Health care information systems replace medical history paper trails with electronic data” (Weinblatt, 2014). With the need to have space for paper records, electronic records can help organizations save space and possibly expand patient rooms. With the use of electronic medical records, physicians will now have access to patient records immediately. Not only will patient records be readily available to physicians, patients can gain access to their records via patient portals and have the ability to receive e-mails from physicians about testing and diagnoses. With these tools at hand, not only is patient care being improved upon, but productivity is increased as well. In order for the transition to electronic medical records to be successful, organizations “must allow the new technology to transform its procedures and policies while being given sufficient top-down support from central management” (Weinblatt, 2014).

            When an organization makes the decision to transfer to an electronic medical record, health information systems may have to be upgraded in order to keep up with the software. One area that is always questioned is the legal aspects of health information management and the security of patient records. “Access to patient-specific health information is a complex issue governed by a variety of legal rules” (McWay, 2010). It is with these legal rules that health care providers are obligated to keep patient information protected and confidential. Each organization must have a notice of information practices readily available to patients which “dictate that the patient be notified of these uses and be given the opportunity to consent, reject, or request restriction of this information for any or all of the many uses the health record serves” (McWay, 2010). Without written consent being obtained by the patient, patient records cannot be shared, even if records are electronic.

            When examining legal aspects of health information management, there are many areas that may come into question by the person who is dealing with the patient’s health information. Ethics is considered “listening to one’s conscience or making judgments between right and wrong” (McWay, 2010). With ethics comes autonomy; beneficence and nonmaleficience; best-interest standard; fidelity; justice; rights; and veracity. In all of these areas, the ethics of self, situations, best interest of an individual, and obligation are questioned by the health care professional when making decisions about patient information and the types of health information systems that should be used within an organization.

            Telecommunications and networking concepts are extremely important concerning current health information systems. This is because without telecommunications and networking concepts, it would be impossible to electronically share information. “Among clinical care technology, telehealth includes electronic transmission of information that gives health care professionals improved working capabilities like continuing education, electronic medical records systems and research collaboration” (Gray, n.d.). With the use of telecommunications, patients are staying more connected to their primary care physicians while discovering ways to better monitor their health.

Again, telecommunications circles back to the electronic medical record and the ease of retrieving patient records. “This increased access to information and level of collaboration between patient and provider has brought about a more patient-driven health care system” (Gray, n.d.). It is because of the increased access to information and collaboration between patient and provider that patients are finally taking charge of their medical treatments.

With the rise in social media, networking is a concept that health care industries must integrate along with the adoption of new technologies and health information systems. Younger generations are more apt to use smart phones and social media, however, with networking, organizations can put out current information to patients which may help answer questions about current illnesses that are present in the community. Networking in healthcare is advertisement to help draw new patients in and show what type of facility patients will be joining. By health care organizations taking advantage of networking, this can make people curious and want to try services at the organization.

References:

Gray, A. (n.d.). The advantages of telecommunication in health care. eHow. Retrieved from

            http://www.ehow.com/info_8378675_advantages-telecommunication-health-care-html

McWay, D. C., JD, RHIA. (2010). Legal and ethical aspects of health information management

            (3^rd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar-Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781435483309

Weinblatt, V. (2014). Health care information systems. Live Strong. Retrieved from

            http://www.livestrong.com/article/216744-health-care-information-systems/

            

The three topics for my final will be:

1. The impact of the electronic medical records integration.
2. Telecommunications & networking concepts for health care.
3. Legal & ethical aspects of health information management.

The importance of these topics are great. With the change over to electronic medical records knocking at the door of almost every health care provider, the change to electronic medical records impacts many organizations and people in the health industry, patients included. Telecommunications will continue to impact health care as communications reach further than they have before. Networking seems to be the new ways of advertisement, and with how much technology is relied upon, why should it not be? Legal and ethical aspects of health information management is one of the most important topics as health information is deemed private and should remain private and secure. 

To address these topics, research will be done in each area, using facts to back up points that are made.