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The Importance of Confidentiality in the Medical Field

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The Importance of Confidentiality in the Medical Field
The Importance of Confidentiality in the Medical Field

Most jobs have a confidentiality policy. In the medical field, confidentiality is extremely important. If the wrong person were to gain access to someone’s medical records, they could use that against them. It can potentially harm that person’s personal life. Keeping a patient’s information and medical records confidential is a must. The importance of confidentiality stressed in HIPAA and HITECH act protects the integrity of medical facilities and a patient’s privacy.
In the medical field, confidentiality is highly stressed through the use of HIPAA and HITECH. HIPAA has rules and regulations that medical facilities and their employees must follow in order to protect the privacy of their patients (PossibleNow.com, Inc., 2013). The HITECH Act is “a part of the stimulus package known as the American Reinvestment Act” (Lindquist and Vennum, 2013). It requires that all policies, procedures, and technical controls are used to keep patient information confidential. Keeping a patient’s medical records is not an option—it is a must. In order to protect medical facilities from internal and external threats, a certain process is followed. The first part of this process assesses a facility’s regulatory status, consisting of standards, Administrative Safeguards, Technical Safeguards, Organizational Requirements, Policies and Procedures, and Documentation Requirements. It also includes the development of reports based on all issues found. Any issues found will be fixed through necessary actions. By assessing the regulatory status, the facility will be better protected. The second step in this process is remediation. Creating the Remediation Project Plan utilizes the Compliance Automation Portal (Lindquist and Vennum, 2013). During this process, internal resources (also known as outsources) corrects the issues using a system called CompliancePoint. CompliancePoint is a system that can be used


References: Lindquist & Vennum > Publications What does the HITECH Act mean to your organization? . (n.d.). Lindquist & Vennum. Retrieved August 28, 2013, from http://www.lindquist.com/pubs/xprPubDetail.aspx?xpST=PubDetail&pub=78 Former patient claims confidentiality breach in Prime Healthcare lawsuit | California Watch. (n.d.). California Watch | Bold new journalism. Retrieved August 28, 2013, from http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/former-patient-claims-confidentiality-breach-prime-healthcare-lawsuit-18788 HIPAA / HITECH Assessment. (n.d.).CompliancePoint. Retrieved August 28, 2013, from http://www.compliancepointis.com/sub_com Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). (n.d.).CompliancePoint. Retrieved August 28, 2013, from http://www.compliancepointis.com/sub_compliance_hipaa.asp?gclid=CJeByd7a-7gCFYik4AodPRQAFg
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