FROM : CEO Memorial Health Care System
TO : All Health Practitioners
SUBJECT : Health Information Confidentiality
DATE : 30th November 2018
In the last one month, the hospital has had to deal with a case where a patient has complained of having his health records being disclosed to family members. I would like to remind every healthcare practitioner that it is unethical to disclose information about a patient unless explicit permission is provided ( Congress, 2018). Everyone should understand that unless the spouse is at risk, the physician can inform him/her. However, if there is no direct harm, then the patient should inform the spouse and not the physician.
Based on the ACHE Ethical requirements, we as physicians have to ensure that all the practices in respect to confidentiality are always consistent with the regulations and laws about both the state and the national levels ( Wallace, 2015) . With information technology, there is an increased risk to patient’s information as they can be accessed on various platforms in the digital era. All physicians should ensure that they limit the access to patient information to only those who are involved in caring for the patient.
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All departments in the hospital should determine disclosures done beyond the treatment team on a case-by-case basis as per the Notice of Privacy Practices. All those who manage the IT department must ensure there is the implementation of technical safeguards to protect electronic medical records ( Wallace, 2015) . I also need the IT department to develop systems that enable the hospital to have a way of tracking the use, access, as well as, the disclosure of the health records ( Congress, 2018) . Finally, the hospital also needs to have all the heads of departments to ensure that there is employee education on all policies and procedures in regards to confidentiality.
References
Congress, E. P. (2018). Ethics and Values in the Health Field. Health and Social Work: Practice, Policy, and Research .
Wallace, I. M. (2015). Is patient confidentiality compromised with the electronic health record? a position paper. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing , 33 (2), 58-62.
