Although health care providers are required to exercise privacy of patients’ information, patient confidentiality is not absolute in some situations. Blightman, Griffiths, & Danbury (2013) state, “ If information is required by law, this will not amount to a penalty for a breach”. Nevertheless, a court order is required for a patient’s information to be disclosed to investigative agencies, such as the police, lawyers, or prosecutors involved in a certain case. Therefore, a judge can penalize a doctor for failure to comply with a court order requiring disclosure of a patient’s information. As Showalter (2004) outlines, disclosure of patients’ information without their consent can also occur when health care providers feel that the patients may pose a risk to others. Showalter (2004) posits, “Providers have a common-law duty to warn third parties of foreseeable risks of harm”. Therefore disclosure of a patient’s information may help avert harm to their peers or other members of the public. Lastly, the government may also require disclosure of vital information such as abortion cases, sexually transmitted infections, drug abuse, and common communicable diseases ( Nicholas, 2007) . This information is vital to the government, especially in the formulation of health policies, and strategies.
The HITECH Act was formulated to reinforce privacy of patients’ information. In this act, more severe penalties were introduced to curb privacy breaches ( Miaoulis, 2010). For instance, Showalter (2004) states, “The law sharply increased the administrative penalties that can be imposed on violators—to as much as $50,000 per violation—and included criminal penalties of fines and prison time of up to ten years”. In regard to the Red Flags Rule, health care providers are required to observe signs in patients or individuals who forge documents or impersonate others to benefit from their medical benefits. The introduction of these laws and rules changed the health care sector in that, health care providers could be held responsible for carelessness or lack of vigilance.
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References
Blightman, K., Griffiths, S. E., & Danbury, C. (2013). Patient confidentiality: when can a breach be justified?. Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain , 14 (2), 52-56.
Miaoulis, W. M. (2010). Access, use, and disclosure: HITECH’s impact on the HIPAA touchstones. Journal of AHIMA , 81 (3), 38-39.
Nicholas, N. (2007). Confidentiality, disclosure and access to medical records. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist , 9 (4), 257-263.
Showalter, J. S. (2004). The law of healthcare administration . Health Administration Press.
