We Can But Should We?
We Can But Should We?
Healthcare is an ever-changing entity and technology is constantly advancing. This technology can be both good and bad and, while most technology is thought of as a good and positive advancement, some technology is not. Pros and cons must be weighed in an effort to determine what works and what does not with regard to healthcare technological advancements.
As the advantages and disadvantages of Quick Response (QR) coding are weighed, one would be able to make a good, educated judgment of what they think is beneficial or not beneficial in the use of their medical record information. Only at that point can they determine if this would be a good idea for them. Questions and answers are raised every day regarding the use of medical record information, privacy laws, and Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. While QR codes are becoming more and more prevalent in this technological age, we can only wonder what it brings to the age of medicine. HIPAA laws are set and secured by the Office for Civil Rights (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). These laws are rules “which protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information”, as well as “sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). This set of rules also protects confidentiality and protects information that can be identified and used to both analyze and improve patient safety (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). HIPAA laws have been designed to cover health plans, healthcare providers, contractors, subcontractors, and others who are not employees of any of the above who will need access to medical record information (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). Although emergency medical services would not be classified as one of these entities, upon arrival at an emergency situation, they would
Healthcare is an ever-changing entity and technology is constantly advancing. This technology can be both good and bad and, while most technology is thought of as a good and positive advancement, some technology is not. Pros and cons must be weighed in an effort to determine what works and what does not with regard to healthcare technological advancements.
As the advantages and disadvantages of Quick Response (QR) coding are weighed, one would be able to make a good, educated judgment of what they think is beneficial or not beneficial in the use of their medical record information. Only at that point can they determine if this would be a good idea for them. Questions and answers are raised every day regarding the use of medical record information, privacy laws, and Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. While QR codes are becoming more and more prevalent in this technological age, we can only wonder what it brings to the age of medicine. HIPAA laws are set and secured by the Office for Civil Rights (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). These laws are rules “which protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information”, as well as “sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). This set of rules also protects confidentiality and protects information that can be identified and used to both analyze and improve patient safety (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). HIPAA laws have been designed to cover health plans, healthcare providers, contractors, subcontractors, and others who are not employees of any of the above who will need access to medical record information (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). Although emergency medical services would not be classified as one of these entities, upon arrival at an emergency situation, they would
References: Denso Wave Incorporated. (2013). What is a QR code?. Retrieved from http://www.qrcode.com/en/ U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2013). Health information privacy. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/ ScanMed QR. (2012). Life saving information in one quick response. Retrieved from https://scanmedqr.com/