1. Maintaining
Confidentiality in
Health care
A comprehensive analysis of how to
avoid breaches in patient information.
Heather Briana Master
MHA 690: Health Care Capstone
Dr. Sherry Grover
April 1, 2013

2. What is Confidentiality
Confidentiality: is a general term that is used when
speaking of preserving the privacy of a patients
information. Confidentiality is applied to all
conversations between health care providers and
their patients. Furthermore, patients except privacy
when they are being treated at a health care facility.
A provider is expected to maintain a patients privacy
no matter that patients social status.

3. What is considered private
information?
What information is considered to be confidential
(private) patient information?
• The patient’s name and identifying information
• The patient’s age, sex, race, religion, and martial
status
• Any health information which includes: diagnostic
results, health condition, procedures, basically any
information that is obtained during the patient
examination.

4. Importance of maintaining
patient privacy.
• Health care providers have a duty to maintain the
privacy of their patients health information.
• It is a health care administrators duty to ensure that
breaches in patient confidentiality don’t take place
within their organization.
• All health care providers, administrators and staff
have a duty to keep the organizations patients
health information private.

5. Maintaining patient confidentiality in a
health care setting
• Confirm the patient’s identity
• NEVER discuss the patient’s case without the patients
consent (this includes your family and friends during off-
duty hours)
• NEVER leave hard copies of forms or records where
unauthorized persons can have access to them.
• Only use secure routes to send patient information (i.e.
official mail).
• Conduct patient interview in a private area
• NEVER discuss a patients case or use the patient’s name
in a public area where it might be over heard.
• ALWAYS protect computer passwords or keys; never
allow unauthorized use.

6. Steps to encouraging your staff to
keep it confidential.
• Implement strategic training strategies that will
encourage ALL staff to maintain patient and data
security.
• Offer incentives to those who excel in maintaining the
integrity of others (i.e. reward a nurse who always
double checks to make sure that the nurses station
doesn’t have confidential information in plain sight or
not secured).
• Conduct random audits of all areas, such as break
rooms, nursing stations, and offices.
• Conduct annual and semi-annual patient confidentiality
training.
• If all else fails use disciplinary action for those who don’t
comply.

7. References
Confidentiality in Tuberculosis.(2010). Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/education/ssmodules/module7/ss7reading4.ht
m
Fox News. (2008).Report Over 120 UCLA hospital staff saw celebrity
health records. Retrieved from
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,398784,00.html
Wolper, L.F. (2011). Health care administration: Managing organized
delivery systems (5th ed.). Boston: Jones and Bartlett.