Confidentiality Of Health Information Research Articles

New Zealanders’ attitudes towards access to their electronic health records: Preliminary results from a national study using vignettes

This project investigates public attitudes towards sharing confidential personal health information held in electronic health records (EHRs). The project uses computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) to conduct a quantitative national survey of the attitudes of New Zealanders towards access to their personal health information using vignettes. Respondents are presented with vignettes which describe ways in which their health information might be used, and asked about their attitude to and consent for each type of access. The project outcome will be a specification of requirements for an e-consent model meeting the needs of most New Zealanders, thus enabling the potential benefits of electronically sharing confidential health information from EHRs. This article presents preliminary results from the first 1828 respondents. Respondents were most willing to share their information for the purpose of providing care. However, removing their name and address greatly increased the acceptability of sharing information for other purposes.

Health Care Reform and Adolescents—An Agenda for the Lifespan: A Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine

Health Care Reform and Adolescents—An Agenda for the Lifespan: A Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine

Contractual obligations and the sharing of confidential health information in sport

As an employee, a sports doctor has obligations to their employer, but also professional and widely accepted obligations of a doctor to the patient (in this case the individual team...

The Influence of Illness Factors on Physicians' Likelihood of Disclosing Confidential Health Information to Relatives of Patients

Confidentiality maintenance is an ethical principle essential to patient care. Because of the importance of confidentiality, the purpose of the present study was to investigate physician disclosures of confidential health information to relatives of patients and how illness factors may influence these disclosures. Based on the content-analyzed transcripts of 22 internists, factors related to an illness (e.g., impairments, severity of diagnosis or prognosis) were shown to affect physicians' disclosures to relatives of patients primarily because the physicians tend to assess the patient within the context of their family. The physicians raised important new aspects of the confidentiality issue that need to be more fully explored.

HIPAA???Clinical and Ethical Considerations for Nurses

Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect patients' basic rights to privacy and their control over the disclosure of their personal health information. Advances in and the more widespread use of communication technology were increasing the public's concerns over the ease with which their health information could be transmitted, how protected that information was during such transmissions, and their lack of approval for the use of that information by known and unknown third parties. This article, the first of two papers focusing on HIPAA, discusses HIPAA from the clinical perspective and focuses primarily on the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Under what circumstances can a covered entity disclose protected health information? What are the ethical issues inherent in HIPAA? What does HIPAA require of covered entities? What are the implications of HIPAA for professional nurses? The goal of HIPAA is to ensure the protection of confidential health information through having appropriate security systems to guard against unintentional disclosure of that information.

Toward a Typology of Confidentiality Breaches in Health Care Communication: An Ethicof Care Analysis of ProviderPractices and Patient Perceptions

Confidentiality should be a fundamental right of patients in a health care setting. However, health care providers who take an oath to uphold confidentiality often neglect this basic patient right. Breaching confidential health information is a serious ethical problem and a communication issue that, historically, has received limited empirical, theoretical, or practical attention. The goals of this project were to frame this issue from an ethic of care perspective, define the concept of a confidentiality breach, identify the types of confidentiality breaches being communicated in health care organizations, and understand how patients perceive these breaches. Based on interviews with 51 patients and observations of health care providers, a definition and typology of confidentiality breaches emerged. Theoretical and practical implications also became evident.

Confidentiality of Employee Health Records

Health professionals must be familiar with regulations and statutes addressing privacy and confidentiality issues. The occupational health nurse must also be aware of specific limitations and exceptions to confidentiality. Occupational health nurses must become proactive in governmental affairs to lobby for changes to include workplace health records in future legislation. To ensure employee trust, occupational health nurses must maintain their ethical and legal responsibility to act morally when making decisions related to confidentiality. The AAOHN Code of Ethics and Interpretive Statements and the AAOHN Position Statement on Confidentiality of Health Information can be used as frameworks to guide occupational health nursing practice.

Congress Considers Strategy To Reduce Medical Errors

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessCongress Considers Strategy To Reduce Medical ErrorsChristine LehmannChristine LehmannSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Nov 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.37.21.0009Before adjourning for its winter recess last month, Congress acted on legislation that would improve patient safety and explain the privacy impact of federal rules.To encourage physicians and health care professionals to report medical mistakes, the legislation would ensure confidentiality for anyone who reports that information.The Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees of the House of Representatives approved similar patient safety bills in September, though the bills had yet to be reconciled at press time. A key difference is that the Ways and Means bill would be included in the Medicare statute, while the Energy and Commerce version would be included in the Public Health Service Act, according to an article in the October 4 iHealth Beat.The Ways and Means bill, the Patient Safety Improvement Act (HR 4889), was introduced in June by Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) and has the support of the Bush administration.Reports of medical mistakes by health care professionals, organizations, and facilities would be considered privileged information and shielded from the discovery process in lawsuits, according to Johnson’s bill.Johnson chairs the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, which held a hearing on medical error legislation in September. “The fear of legal liability has had a chilling effect on the development of the reporting and analysis of errors. These data can save lives and create a health care delivery system capable of continuous quality improvement,” said Johnson in a press statement.A Senate companion bill (S 2590) was introduced in June by Sens. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). However, some Democrats and consumer advocates oppose the legal shield for patient safety data during the discovery process, fearing that attorneys would not be able to gain access to any patient information such as medical diagnosis and treatment, according to the September 25 iHealth Beat.To remedy that, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced the Patient Safety Improvement and Medical Injury Reduction Act (S 3029) last month. This bill would allow patient and hospital records to be used in federal or state civil or administrative proceedings under certain conditions and when permitted by federal or state law.The bill was referred to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, where it is awaiting action. Kenned is chair of this committee.The bills would establish local independent Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs) to collect and analyze medical error data and report back to health care professionals to prevent future mistakes, according to the legislation.The PSOs would forward the confidential health information to the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, housed in the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).The center would collect the information in a national medical-errors database that researchers could use to identify national trends and recommend best practices to the health care industry, according to Johnson’s statement.The legislation would also provide federal grants to encourage local health care organizations to increase their use of information technology and develop physician electronic prescribing systems to reduce medical errors.The use of advanced prescribing software and computerized physician order systems was one of the recommendations made in the landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine report titled “To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System.”The report estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die annually due to medical errors, making them the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States.In other congressional news, the House of Representatives passed a bill last month (HR 4561) written by Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) requiring federal agencies that issue proposed regulations for public comment to include an analysis of how privacy would be affected.The bill would also allow individuals to file lawsuits against agencies whose reviews are inadequate. A companion bill (S 2492) was awaiting action in the Senate last month.Details and summaries of the legislation can be accessed on the Web at www.thomas.loc.gov by searching on the appropriate bill number. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Privacy and Confidentiality of Health Information

Preface. The Author. 1.Introduction: Why Privacy and Confidentiality Matter. 2.The Legal Underpinnings. 3.Navigating the Confidentiality Minefield. 4.Developing Confidentiality Policies and Procedures. 5.Confidentiality Training. 6.The Future. Resources. Notes. References. Index.

HIPAA compliance: lessons from the repeal of Hawaii's patient privacy law.

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which required the enactment of new regulations to protect confidential patient health information. In December 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published the agency's final rule on patient privacy and the proper use of privileged health information. The HIPAA privacy regulations cover all health-care providers that handle medical records or other identifiable patient health information. Most health-care organizations have until April 14,2003, to comply with HIPPA.

Consumer Protection in Health Care

This article traces the evolution of the consciousness that has occurred relative to consumer protection and quality in health care, discussing the 1997 Advisory Commission Report on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. The end result of the commission deliberations was the Consumer Bill of Rights that addresses explicit consumer rights and cover information disclosure and privacy, choice of providers and plans, access to emergency care, participation in treatment decisions, respect and nondiscrimination, confidentiality of health information, and complaints and appeals. Once the bill was finalized, the Clinton administration began actively working to implement the new patient protections. Congressional activity also accelerated and took the form of managed care patient protections and ultimately managed care reform. The author presents and analyzes a number of the bills that have been introduced in the 106th Congress, and provides a summary of legislative activity relative to managed care reform.

A Survey on the Attitude of Social Groups toward Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality of Health Information: An Original Paper Authors and Affiliations

A Survey on the Attitude of Social Groups toward Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality of Health Information: An Original Paper Authors and Affiliations

Confidentiality of Health Information Debated

Confidentiality of Health Information Debated

Confidentiality of information on NHS network must be addressed

EDITOR,—It is disappointing that a number of doctors seem to find the BMA's approach to the confidentiality of computerised health records impractical, out of date, Luddite, or worse: the association believes that concerns must be addressed before confidential personal health information can be entrusted to the NHS network. The medical ethics committee is as anxious as every practising doctor must be to ensure that patients reap the full benefits that the new computer technology can bring to health care. The …

Confidentiality of Health Information

Confidentiality of Health Information

Confidentiality of Health Information

Confidentiality of Health Information