Online Course
Nurs 692 Administration of Nursing and Health Care Services
Module 10: The Ethical & Legal Environment and Labor Relations
Confidentiality and HIPPA
Health care practitioners have a duty to take reasonable steps to keep personal medical information confidential consistent with the person's preferences. For example, doctor-patient medical discussions should generally occur in private and a patient might prefer that the doctor call their cell phone rather than home. Even well-meaning family members are not necessarily allowed to have information about a loved one's medical condition.
All people are entitled to confidentiality unless they give permission for disclosure or they clearly can no longer express a preference (for example, if they are severely confused or comatose). A federal law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) applies to most health care practitioners and its regulation, known as the Privacy Rule, sets detailed rules regarding privacy, access, and disclosure of information.
HIPAA specifies the following:
- People should normally be able to see and obtain copies of their medical records and request corrections if they find mistakes.
- Anyone legally authorized to make health care decisions for a person lacking such capacity has the same right of access to the person's personal medical information.
- Health care practitioners should routinely disclose their practices regarding privacy of personal medical information.
- Health care practitioners may share the person’s medical information, but only among themselves and only as much as is necessary to provide medical care.
- Personal medical information may not be disclosed for marketing purposes.
- Health care practitioners should take reasonable precautions to ensure that their communications with the person are confidential.
- People may file complaints about privacy practices of health care practitioners (directly to the health care practitioner or to the Office for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information on HIPAA: click here!
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