Protecting Your Privacy & Security, Essay Example

While it is necessary to collect patient data in the health care environment, it is also necessary to ensure that the collected information is protected. Information technology professionals are often hired by hospitals are private care practices to ensure that the ethical requirements related to data protection are met. According to the article Ethics in Public Health Research, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission “calls upon researchers to anticipate and disclose such risks and to consult with community representatives if they believe such risks to be possible” (Quinn, 2004). Overall, collecting data for public health research is a double-edged sword. The information gathered could be used to benefit the local community by providing health care professionals with new understandings regarding health care trends and community needs. However, an individual or group of patients could suffer if their health care information is made public, which could prevent them from being able to access health care for cost-effective premiums, prevent them from gaining jobs based on their personal health records, or enable their identities to be stolen.

In the context of our own public health needs, it is necessary to maintain records that track diabetes rates, the incidence of HIV, and immunization records. This will allow us to determine the amount of resources we need to treat citizens, ascertain how public health services should be distributed, and track the immunization of citizens in order to prevent the spread of disease. Overall, these programs will benefit all individuals living in the territory and will support the efforts that public health professionals have put forth.

It is important to consider that despite our health care initiatives, we have done our best to maintain your privacy. We are aware that the release of personal information is a detrimental experience and will put forth enhanced efforts from preventing this in the future. Privacy is important to our society because it allows for the prevention of personal dignity while ensuring that it “facilitates access to new therapies, improved diagnostics, and more effective ways to prevent illness and deliver care” (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health Research and the Privacy of Health Information 2).

Despite the personal protections that access to health care information occasionally violates, it is important for the department to have access to health information, which is occasionally seen as an infringement upon the community’s security. Furthermore, it is also important to consider that this information is used for your own personal benefit as a patient. In particular, this data is used for your own treatment and care management. By storing this health information, health care professionals are fully aware of your health condition, which will help them understand which treatments you have received in the past and which you would be eligible for in the present. In addition, providing this information and allowing it to be shared will allow your insurance company or personal account to be properly billed. Both aspects of this information sharing will allow your physicians to ensure that they are able to provide you with the best possible care. Furthermore, this information will help public health professionals conduct research that will help them determine when common illnesses will most likely plague your population (Health IT).

Despite the fact that our department needs to occasionally use this information, we also ensure its security. According to HIPAA, all patients are provided with informed consent for the use of information (Holt 1). Our offices disclose how this information will be used and you are then asked to sign a consent form demonstrating your understanding of this need. However, we respect your private information and put forth great efforts to ensure great security. All of our patient data is safely secured in a database system that can only be accessed by qualified health professionals who have been provided their own unique login and password. Furthermore, the information is de-identified, meaning that your personal information is removed, when public health professionals use the information to uncover health trends that are pertinent in the population.

Presently and in the future, we intend to increase the safety of our data storage system to prevent future breaches from occurring. We will partner with information security professionals to ensure that health care professionals only have access to the information that is important for their own patients. In addition, we will require that you complete a special form to indicate that you consent to share all relevant information with your health insurance company for billing purposes. We hope that our health care practices will be able to provide you as an individual and a community with significant benefits and we therefore hope you understand that it is essential we access your health information to contribute to the development of a more health conscious world. During this process, we will ensure that your information is protected whenever possible, but we appreciate your willingness to share this data with us to ensure the continued health of our population.

References

Health IT. (2015). Protecting Your Privacy & Security. Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/patients-families/protecting-your-privacy-security

Holt WJ. (2015). Informed consent: A process, not a piece of paper. AAOS Now, 9(8). Retrieved from http://www.aaos.org/news/bulletin/sep07/managing5.asp

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health Research and the Privacy of Health Information. (2009). Beyond the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health Through Research. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9578/

Quinn SC. (2004). Ethics in Public Health Research. Am J Public Health, 94(6): 918–922. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15249289