In the immensely digital age we live in today the idea of complete privacy is almost unimaginable. It is almost expected these days to have your personal information compromised or stolen in one way or another. We, as a healthcare providers, go to great lengths to keep information about our patients private. This information can be even more sensitive to patient’s being treated for behavioral or psychiatric conditions as this can affect many social situations. The following pages will discuss articles related to patient privacy and how informatics can impact the flow of patient data.
When patients seek medical care there is a certain expectation of privacy. Patients expect providers to keep their personal health records under lock and key …show more content…
There are currently many different HISs and also different regulations of PHI throughout the United States. HIPAA is a federal law but many states have further restrictions on the transfer of PHI which can make it difficult for patients to receive care efficiently. For example, a patient with specific treatment plan for their chronic condition is on vacation out of their home state and ends up in an emergency room needing treatment for injury, if the patient does not carry their medical records it can take a great deal of time and effort getting these records to the ER from the patient’s primary provider if their HIS do not communicate with the ER HIS. The delay in exchange of information can lead to dire consequences for this patient. Especially when there are life and death situations at hand, the importance of exchanging information between entities is critical. Thorpe, Gray & Cartwright-Smith state, “Federal and state policymakers, along with an incentivized health care industry, are engaged in extensive efforts to break down barriers to health information use and exchange.” There is a hope for interoperable HISs however there is much to be accomplished in the way of protecting the information exchanged and facilities financing the transfer from paper records to electronic records. “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (enacted in 2009) established a regulatory framework for health information exchange and made major financial investments towards hospitals and certain health professionals acquiring and using health IT in order to get started.” (Thorpe, Gray & Cartwright-Smith, 2016) The incentives are helpful to practices getting underway in electronic records however just acquiring an EHR does not equate to proper use and
When patients seek medical care there is a certain expectation of privacy. Patients expect providers to keep their personal health records under lock and key …show more content…
There are currently many different HISs and also different regulations of PHI throughout the United States. HIPAA is a federal law but many states have further restrictions on the transfer of PHI which can make it difficult for patients to receive care efficiently. For example, a patient with specific treatment plan for their chronic condition is on vacation out of their home state and ends up in an emergency room needing treatment for injury, if the patient does not carry their medical records it can take a great deal of time and effort getting these records to the ER from the patient’s primary provider if their HIS do not communicate with the ER HIS. The delay in exchange of information can lead to dire consequences for this patient. Especially when there are life and death situations at hand, the importance of exchanging information between entities is critical. Thorpe, Gray & Cartwright-Smith state, “Federal and state policymakers, along with an incentivized health care industry, are engaged in extensive efforts to break down barriers to health information use and exchange.” There is a hope for interoperable HISs however there is much to be accomplished in the way of protecting the information exchanged and facilities financing the transfer from paper records to electronic records. “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (enacted in 2009) established a regulatory framework for health information exchange and made major financial investments towards hospitals and certain health professionals acquiring and using health IT in order to get started.” (Thorpe, Gray & Cartwright-Smith, 2016) The incentives are helpful to practices getting underway in electronic records however just acquiring an EHR does not equate to proper use and