Essay on "Health Care Organizations Are Guided in Their"

Essay 5 pages (1405 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Health care organizations are guided in their quest to make all of the health care information by the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information (HHS.gov, 2012). These standards provide the baseline, but there are other methods by which health care providers can maintain patient privacy.

The information systems themselves are essential to ensuring patient privacy. For example, if there are multiple systems handling data, there is greater risk of some sort of information leak, but there the leak might only contain a few piece of information. When all of the information is encompassed in a single system, the risk of leak would be reduced but any leak that does occur could involve the totality of patient records. Therefore it is essential that the health care organization utilize a system that is designed to both minimize risk and to encode or compartmentalize the information that so if a leak occurred, only part of the patient's information would escape, and preferably in encrypted format.

In addition to making the right choices with respect to the software that is utilized, the company needs to ensure that its employees are properly trained in the handling of sensitive personal information. There are a number of schools and organizations that can assist in the provision of privacy training for staff. All members of staff, no matter how long they have been working, need to have this training so that the boundaries of how to treat confidential information are known by all of the people who might have access to that information. The training course should include books and videos, and should also include different scenarios that can illustrate the basic concepts.

Thus, the two main safeguards are operational and with training. When the systems transmit information in a secure manner, and are difficult to hack into, then the system side of the equation is covered. Having employees who understand the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of health information is also essential, however. With good employees and a good system, the risk of there being any breach is minimal.

Student #2. Maintaining confidentiality of patients' health care information is essential. There are two main points where leaks can occur -- in the electronic storage or transmission of data, or from the end users (hospital staff). Some systems for managing health care information have better security than others, and therefore it is important that the company focuses on getting the best system possible.

The staff, however, must also be addressed in a positive way, to ensure that they understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality, and that they understand the basic concept of patient confidentiality as well. The Medical College of Wisconsin (2012) frames this as an ethical issue, but the defenses that the organization utilizes should go well beyond basic ethics training, and should focus specifically on how to deal with difficult situations. In addition, it is important that the company should also have a mechanism for employees to report other employees who might be leaking information (deliberately or otherwise). Such safeguards will greatly reduce the risk of having patient information leaked.

Question 2, Student #1. Not sure what a supply-oriented service is. That sounds like they are supplying something as a service, which is incorrect. Supplying a good is selling a product, not a service. A value-oriented service model is equally incoherent terminology. All transactions have value, assuming that the companies involved are rational economic actors. In the end, health care materials manufacturers and distributors today sell goods to their customers at a price that allows both parties to derive value from the transaction. That is the same thing that they did before.

A company called MUSA Technology Partners (no date) outlines, however, the value-oriented service model. This seems to describe a model focused on either a collaborative or proactive approach to meeting customer needs, rather than the traditional break/fix model. If it is true that this model is in use more frequently, this would be a market response to customer demand. Customers -- health care providers -- would be driving the industry to deliver this type of… READ MORE

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