HCM337-0704B-01 Current Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in H - Phase 2 Discussion Board - Essay Example

Being a government agency man d by law to oversee healthcare services in the country, the United s Department of Health and Human Services isthe primary entity that addresses issues concerning healthcare provider and patients’ relationship. Another entity involved in these issues is the National Academies of Practice (NAP). The organization published their Ethical Guidelines for Professional Care Services in a Managed Health Care Environment (http://www.nap.vcu.edu/ethics.htm) online. The American Public Health Association also releases code of ethics for their members to ensure productive and smooth relationship between healthcare providers and patients.

NAP’s Ethical Guidelines for Professional Care Services in a Managed Health Care Environment (1999) put patients at the top of their priorities. Their commitment for a patient-focused care means that they would rigidly observe the rights of their patients such as the right to have access to appropriate professional services, the healthcare’s obligation to meet with patient’s satisfaction, and the healthcare provider’s duty to provide delivery by uniquely trained personnel when complexity of the patient’s condition requires the knowledge and expertise beyond those of the primary care provider.

Failure of compliance to these ethical guidelines can result to major penalties. A case documented by Klein and Campbell (2006) wherein members of the groups clinical and anatomic pathology laboratory, and 2 Michigan-based consulting and management services companies were sued by the government because or their alleged submission of “$1.3 million in false claims to Medicare and Medicaid”. The government also argued that the defendants “engaged in fraudulent conspiracy by offering referring physicians a discounted price for a routine, automated chemistry panel.

” After the accused were proven guilty, they were, under the False Claims Act, potentially liable for 3 times $1.3 million, or $3.9 million, penalties of up to $10,000 for each of the 134,655 claims, and $116,000 for the cost of the investigation by the OIG. The physicians, who sold the laboratory to Corning in 1995 for $6.6 million, denied breaking any laws, but in 1998 settled with the government for $875,000. The consulting companies and their owner, whom the pathologists argued put into place the challenged billing practice, settled for $35,000.

With the information supplied by other postings about my current and future health work, I can see outright the repercussions that might result from my unethical and substandard services. Their posts, especially when properly supplied with sources, can also be good references that I can supply to my colleagues, co-workers and patients whenever the appropriate time for retrieving and using them arises.ReferencesKlein, R.D. & Campbell, S. (2006) Health Care Fraud and Abuse Laws. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine: Vol. 130, No. 8, pp.

1169–1177. Retrieved December 17, 2007 from http://arpa.allenpress.com/arpaonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1043%2F1543-2165(2006)130%5B1169:HCFAAL%5D2.0.CO%3B2 National Academies of Practice (1999) Ethical Guidelines for Professional Care and Services in a Managed Health Care Environment. Retrieved December 17, 2007 from http://www.nap.vcu.edu/ethics.htm