Question

PHC-216 ( Ethics and regulations in healthcare )

Answer two of the following questions (three paragraphs per question). Compose your paper in MS Word

1. How much control do patients have over what does and does not go into health records?
2. What limits patients’ rights of access to their health records?

Answer 1

Patients should be aware of the risks associated with authorizing the release of health information for purposes unrelated to patient treatment and consider the following:

• the sensitivity of the information,

• whether the data have been requested by a primary or secondary user,

• the stated use for the data,

• whether limited or complete access to patient data has been requested,

• whether the data identify patients or are blinded, and

• whether the data are analyzed and reported as independent or combined with other patient information and analyzed and reported as aggregate.

1. Pediatricians should understand and abide by legislative and regulatory requirements that address the confidentiality, secure transmission and storage, and public accessibility of patient medical information.

2. Pediatricians or their affiliated institutions should accept the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of their medical records by personnel education, office procedures, and security strategies that are in compliance with federal standards.

3. Pediatricians should advocate for the ability to access medical information for properly regulated medical education, research, and public health functions that undergo periodic and systematic review of their appropriateness and that comply with applicable patient confidentiality and research regulations.

4. Pediatricians should urge policy makers to weigh the administrative burdens and risks to patient confidentiality against the projected benefits to be derived from medical data being collected, protected, analyzed, or disseminated either publicly or privately.

5. Pediatricians should support legislation to require payers to notify their insured at least annually whether the payers may review their medical records. Such notification should identify the reviewers and the data, and purposes (for example, continuous quality improvement, review of claims, or accreditation) for which the data are to be used.

6. Patients (and/or custodial parents) should be advised of the risks associated with signing unconditional releases for their health information.