Health information research project - Essay Example

Order 282994 Confidentiality of Health Information The American Medical Association’s Policy on confidentiality of computers s that all the corrections to medical records need to be date and time stamped(www.ama-assn.org). The reason for this policy is that medical records are legal documents that are used to prove the truth of a legal matter. Medical records can be used for proving the truth only if there is evidence that they are made at or near the time of occurrence of the event (Wilson 2009).

Further, they need to be proved as exact and reliable. Hence, the policy is that all the corrections to medical records need to be date and time stamped.2. According to the AMA’s Policy, the patient needs to be advised about the existence of computerized databases containing information about patient (www.ama-assn.org). The policy is that this information needs to be conveyed to the patient before the physician releases the medical information to the authorities maintaining the computer databases.

This is because the patient’s informed permission needs to be obtained for treatment (Wilson 2009). For obtaining this, the patient has the right to get the complete information about where their records are being stored. Further, they have the right to know the persons and organizations that have access to their computerized medical databases (O’Caroll et al ed 2003).3. The AMA’s policy is that the procedures for eradicating the computerized database of inaccurate data need to be established (www.ama-assn.org).

This information of purging of inaccurate data needs to be notified to the patient before the purging of data and after the completion of purging. This policy has been adopted to give the patient a chance to get a printed copy of the computerized information before it is lost completely .Further they have the right to know that their records have been eradicated forever from the computer.4. The AMA’S policy on confidentiality of computers is that the computerized database should be online to the computer terminal only when authorized computer programs that require the computerized data are being used (www.ama-assn.org).

External individuals and organizations should not be provided online access to this data. Security measures like password protection, encoding of information etc are required to control unauthorized access to the medical data according to AMA’s policy. This is to prevent the unauthorized access by any external agent to a patient’s confidential medical data. The legal basis for this is the right of privacy derived from constitution (Wilson, 2009).5. According to AMA’s policy, when a computer service bureau erases medical data, the bureau needs to verify in writing to the physician that the erasure of data has taken place (www.ama-assn.org).

Further, the data can be erased only if it is proved that the physician has another copy of the same data. This policy is adopted because in some cases like establishing a person’s mental health etc in court, the physicians’ record needs to be provided in the court. Therefore, the physician should always have a copy of the data.6. According to AMA’s policy on confidentiality of computers, the individuals and organizations with access to the databases need to be identified by the patient.

This is because the patient has the right to know the individuals and organizations with access to their information. This is based on the right of privacy and freedom for full information derived from the constitution. Otherwise, it will violate the principles of informed consent and patient confidentiality (www.ama-assn.org). 7. The AMA’s policy on confidentiality of computers mentions many security measures for controlling unauthorized access to a patients computerized data, among which encryption of information is one(www.ama-assn.org).. By encryption of information, the user of data can be identified .

Thus this acts as a security measure against unauthorized access to computerized medical data of a patient. This helps to protect patient confidentiality based on the right of privacy derived from the constitution.8. The AMA’s ethics opinion says that the recipients of authorized medical data of a patient need not disclose the data to a third party without the patients’ prior written permission, unless required by law (www.ama-assn.org). The patient has to be informed fully about the purpose of the disclosures of his medical data other than diagnosis and treatment, beforehand.

Then his written consent is needed to disclose the medical information to a third party, unless needed by law. Otherwise, it will violate the principles of patient confidentiality and informed consent. These principles are based on the right of privacy and freedom for information derived from the constitution.ReferencesAmerican Medical Association Policy Finder. 2009. .O’Caroll,Patrick, William.A.Yasnoff, M.Elizabeth Ward, Laura.H.Ripp and Ernest L.Martin, eds. Public Health Informatics and Information Systems,NewYork,Springer,2003.

Wilson,Mike,J,D .Study Guide Confidentiality of Health Information ,2009.