04 Jan HIPAA and Electronic Medical Records response 2 to colleagues

              SOCW– SOCW 6204/8204: Medical Social Work I 

Discussion 2: HIPAA and Electronic Medical Records response 2 to colleagues

An electronic health or medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper medical chart that contains a patient’s medical history. EMRs offer clinicians and patients increased access to information and assist in the coordination of care. In hospitals, EMRs are particularly useful because each member of the health care team is able to monitor a patient’s progress across disciplines. A social worker, for example, is able to read, in real time, the note of every physician, nurse, or therapist who has seen a patient. To maintain HIPAA compliance, institutions have strict policies that restrict access to EMRs. These policies require computers and networks to be secure, ensuring that only authorized users can access protected health information.

To prepare for this Discussions, review this week’s resources including the article by Harman et al. Consider the complexities involving the emerging electronic health record system. Think about how the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules apply to EMRs.

By Day 6 ( Note!!! PLEASE WRITE OUT EACH QUESTION BEFORE PROVIDING A RESPONSE

Respond to at least two colleagues who are from different states in one or more of the following ways:

• Analyze your colleague’s post and expand with additional insight on the application of HIPAA to EMRs.

• Submit a constructive critique of your colleague’s post about the ramifications of HIPAA.

 

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources and the current literature using appropriate APA format and style.

Be sure to support your responses with specific references to the resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references both within the text and on the referencing section.  PLEASE ALWAYS INCLUDE THE REQIRED TEXTBOOK as part of the references and if possible some of the REQUIRED READING if applicable. Please always start by referring to THE TEXTBOOK, below  REQUIRED

Hospital Social Work (Paperback) 2006  Author:

Handbook of Health Social Work 3RD 19

Author: Gehlert, Sarah

ISBN-13: 978-1-119-42072-9

ISBN-10: 1-119-42072-5

Edition/Copyright: 3RD 19

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 

 Required Readings

 

Myers, R. K. (2009). The fundamentals of HIPAA. Privacy, security and electronic data transfer in clinical settings: What we need to know. Retrieved from http://www.clinicalsocialworkassociation.org/HIPAA

 

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.). Summary of the HIPAA privacy rule. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html

 

 

Caine, K., & Hanania, R. (2013). Patients want granular privacy control over health information in electronic medical records. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(1), 7–15.

 

 

Harman, L. B., Flite, C. A., & Bond, K. (2012). Electronic health records: Privacy, confidentiality, and security. Virtual Mentor, 14(9), 712–719.

 

Optional Resources

Colvin, J. D., Nelson, B., & Cronin, K. (2012). Integrating social workers into medical–legal partnerships: Comprehensive problem solving for patients. Social Work, 57(4), 333–341.

 

English, A., & Ford, C. A. (2004). The HIPAA privacy rule and adolescents: Legal questions and clinical challenges. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3608004.html

 

National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.). HIPAA help for social workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Legal/HIPAA-Help 

 

 

________________________________________

 

Quanisha Wright 

RE: Discussion 2 – Week 9

COLLAPSE

 

 Post an explanation of how the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules apply to EMRs.

HIPAA law is there to protect the rights of the patient’s health information. However, I have seen HIPPA be violated daily, due to patient’s paperwork being left out on the desk or pulled up on a screen while someone went to print. There are so many ways that patient’s information gets exposed. 

Within the privacy rule, the patients’ health, and even where they go to the doctors is supposed to be private. Confidentiality it is very important, especially when dealing with adolescents (Myers, 2008) For Example, if a girl is 16 years old and wants birth control, she can go get some from her doctor without consulting her parents. one of my clients I was working with sneaked out of her foster parent house and went and got the birth control that goes in your arm. I was really shocked that they were able to consent to that without a parent, but Under the HIPAA privacy rule, adolescents who legally are adults (aged 18 or older) and emancipated minors can exercise the rights of individuals; specific provisions address the protected health information of adolescents who are younger than 18 and not emancipated HIPAA privacy rule allow minors who are treated as “individuals” to request special privacy protections (English et al., 2017)

 Can a social worker access any patient’s electronic medical record?

A social worker can access patients electronic medical record, but just not anyone’s medical record.  Patient information should be released to others only with the patient’s permission or as allowed by law. (Harman, L. B., Flite, C. A., & Bond, K., 2012) This is not, however, to say that physicians cannot gain access to patient information. Information can be released for treatment, payment, or administrative purposes without a patient’s authorization. However, social workers must be properly trained and follows procedures of employment to even get access. I know at certain jobs; the supervisor would’ve access to high-profile cases that the social workers did not have access too. It depends on the job, and the case situation.

 Can a social worker access his or her own electronic medical record?