Administrative Ethics paper
Administrative Ethics Paper
HCS/335
Jim Dockins
December 2, 2012
Administrative Ethics In society as we know it today, individuals are faced with constant advances in technology and inevitably patients face the challenging issue of their privacy being protected. There is a continuous presence of ethical issues that health care settings face in their everyday activities. I began working in a pharmacy a few months ago, and decided that I am going to complete this paper on the one of the largest ranges that can impose on patient privacy, which is that of prescription health information that is discharged by pharmacists as well as how that private information is used. Personal patient information can be shared with a wide variety of individuals, which can not only raise concern about patient rights to privacy, but also the fact that the patient doesn’t even consent to their personal information being released. Attention both judicial and congressional have been focusing attention as to how patient privacy of identifiable information on prescription data can be protected, as well as what misuse or damage can possibly be done by releasing this private information. Privacy issues are being explored with a regard to personal health information of patients, specifically with patient prescriptions because they do contain a great deal of private patient information. Databases within a pharmacy setting, such as Intercom Plus, collect patient information including their name, address, date of birth, medications that have been dispensed to the patient, dispensing dates, prescribing physician, refill amounts, etc. HIPAA, also known as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was implemented by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 1996. The Privacy Rule addresses both the use and disclosure of private health information, which can also be referred to as PHI, by organizations that are subject to this privacy rule along with
HCS/335
Jim Dockins
December 2, 2012
Administrative Ethics In society as we know it today, individuals are faced with constant advances in technology and inevitably patients face the challenging issue of their privacy being protected. There is a continuous presence of ethical issues that health care settings face in their everyday activities. I began working in a pharmacy a few months ago, and decided that I am going to complete this paper on the one of the largest ranges that can impose on patient privacy, which is that of prescription health information that is discharged by pharmacists as well as how that private information is used. Personal patient information can be shared with a wide variety of individuals, which can not only raise concern about patient rights to privacy, but also the fact that the patient doesn’t even consent to their personal information being released. Attention both judicial and congressional have been focusing attention as to how patient privacy of identifiable information on prescription data can be protected, as well as what misuse or damage can possibly be done by releasing this private information. Privacy issues are being explored with a regard to personal health information of patients, specifically with patient prescriptions because they do contain a great deal of private patient information. Databases within a pharmacy setting, such as Intercom Plus, collect patient information including their name, address, date of birth, medications that have been dispensed to the patient, dispensing dates, prescribing physician, refill amounts, etc. HIPAA, also known as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was implemented by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 1996. The Privacy Rule addresses both the use and disclosure of private health information, which can also be referred to as PHI, by organizations that are subject to this privacy rule along with
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