1. MAINTAINING
CONFIDENTALITY
Heather W. Poythress
MHA 690: Health Care Capstone
Dr. Sherry Grover
April, 4, 2013

2. CONFIDENTIALTY
BY DEFINITION
 The nondisclosure of certain information except to another
authorized person.
 It is the principle in medical ethics that the information a
patient reveals to a health care provider is private and has
limits on how and when it can be disclosed to a third party.
 The legally protected right afforded to specifically designated
health care professionals not to disclose information discerned
or communicated during consultation with a patient.

3. RESPONSIBILITY
As a healthcare professional it is your job, your responsibility to
keep a patients medical information confidential.
Modernized Version of the Hippocratic Oath:
"That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the lives of
men or women which is not fitting to be spoken, you
will keep inviolably secret."

4. PROTECTED INFORMATION
 All identifying information, i.e. name, date of birth, social
security number, sex, race, religion, martial status, etc.
 All medical and psychiatric records including paper, photo,
video, diagnostic and therapeutic reports, laboratory and
pathology samples.
 All patient insurance and billing records
 Visual observation of patients receiving medical care or
accessing services; and
 Verbal information provided by or about a patient.

5. HIPPA
 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) is a federal
law designed to provide privacy standards to protect a patients' medical
records as well as other health information provided to health plans,
doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.
 HIPPA was developed by The Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS).
 The new standards provide patients with access to their medical records
and more control over how their personal health information is used and
disclosed.

6. EXCEPTIONS
 PatientWaiver
 Reporting of specific diseases, injuries or
treatments.
 Threats of self-harm
 Abuse of a child or adult
All exceptions have specific policies and procedures related to
such situations and should be referenced immediately.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
MAINTAINING CONFIDENTALITY
 Conduct annual training on HIPPA regulation, hospital
policies & procedures and patient confidentiality. Require all
employees sign an attendance log and make it a requirement of
their employee evaluation standards to attend.
 Supply quarterly refresher pamphlets on material covered in
annual training.
 Conduct random walk through audits.
 Post quick reminder signs in employee areas with main points
concerning confidentiality, i.e. bathroom, chartroom,
medication room, etc.

8. References
Patient confidentiality for health care providers. (2002). Retrieved from
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/confidentiality/
Wolper, L.F. (2011). Health care administration: Managing organized delivery
systems (5th ed.). Boston: Jones and Bartlett.
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