HIPAA and Codes of Ethics-The Situation

HIPAA and Codes of Ethics-The Situation

The HIPAA is a federal provision that safeguards patients’ private health information. In the case of Mary and Maureen, Mary should not provide health information to Maureen. The HIPAA requires that private health information of patients be shared only in the presence of an informed consent form from the patient. It also describes persons who may have access to this information. The HIPAA rule applies to healthcare providers, healthcare clearinghouses, and health plans (“Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule”, 2022). In the case presented, Maureen did not have informed consent from the patient. Additionally, she is not legally allowed to access private health information for any purpose. Mary should, therefore, deny her access to this information and instead advise her to seek consent from the patient. Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com. We offer assignment help with high professionalism.

Code ethics defines standards of medical practice. It defines whatever is right and wrong in medical practice. Whereas the HIPAA rule defines standards governing the handling of a patient’s health information, the code of ethics directs medical professionals to always work in favor of the patient. The ethical codes require that healthcare providers respect patients’ autonomy and confidentiality (Varkey, 2020). In this regard, healthcare providers will always allow patients to make decisions on their treatment and not share patient information or conduct any procedure on the patient without written informed consent. The ethical codes grant healthcare providers more responsibility for protecting patients’ health information than the HIPAA rule does.

The HIPAA rule is an elaborate rule that applies not only to healthcare providers but also to other handlers of patients’ health information such as health plans and healthcare clearinghouses. In this regard, patients’ health information is protected at all levels of care provision. The ethical codes majorly impact health care providers and do little to other handlers of patients’ health information (“eHealth Code of Ethics,” 2022). For instance, the ethical codes do not define the standards of practice for health plans and clearinghouses, but the HIPAA rule does. This explains the significance of the HIPAA rule at these points of care.

References

eHealth Code of Ethics. (2022). Retrieved 17 June 2022, from http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/ehealth-code-of-ethics/.

Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. HHS.gov. (2022). Retrieved 17 June 2022, from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html.

Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles And Practice. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119

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The situation: Healthcare providers need access to patients’ personal health information wherever patients are present for care. Systems that standardize electronic medical records provide such access, but the risk to privacy that accompanies that access is real, and breaches often make the news. At the Federal level, the HIPAA Privacy Rule protects personal health information gathered by healthcare providers, but most agree that information needs more protection than HIPAA currently affords. Some believe added protection may be found in the forming and keeping of codes of ethics.

HIPAA and Codes of Ethics-The Situation

A scenario. Mary works in a hospital health information management department, and Maureen, her friend, comes one day to pick up the medical records of a patient who is a client of the lawyer Maureen works for. Maureen, however, has forgotten to bring the client’s signed authorization form, though she assures Mary the form, which she saw the patient sign, is at her office. Since Maureen’s need for the form is urgent, and there isn’t enough time to return it today, Maureen hopes to take the records and return the form another day.

Read the iHealthCoalition’s eHealth Code of Ethics, the Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, and with the above scenario in mind, consider the following questions:

In light of what the Code and HIPAA say, how might Mary and Maureen best resolve the problem?
How might a code of ethics provide personal medical information more protection than HIPAA?
In what ways, if any, does HIPAA protect personal medical information where codes of ethics do not?
To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Your initial posting should be addressed at 150-300 words. Submit your document to this Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.