The document outlines a series of questions and responses regarding the importance of law and ethics in healthcare. It highlights the essential relationship between legal standards and ethical practices for healthcare practitioners and managers, emphasizing their role in guiding decision-making and ensuring patient confidentiality. Additionally, it discusses the significance of accurate documentation and the understanding of healthcare legislation to maintain quality care and improve provider-patient relationships.

1. **Write a 100-word reply to the 6 individual questions
below.** Use APA formatting and citation standards. Use at
least two (2) scholarly references published within the last 5
years to substantiate your work on questions 1-4 only.
To help you with your discussion, please consider the following
questions:
What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
What differences or similarities do you see between your
posting and other classmates' postings?
What additional questions do you have after reading the
posting?
What item you found to be compelling and enlightening.
Kerry-
Law and Ethics are important to practitioners and managers
because, without them, there would be no guide to follow, and
everyone staff and patients alike would do as they please. Laws
and Ethics help show what is right and what is wrong not only
in healthcare but also in life. Ethics means what is right and
wrong regarding how a person acts and what they do. Law is a
practice or procedure that is enforced by a higher authority in
regard to a profession. Law and ethics go hand-in-hand in the
healthcare world and are used and practiced on a daily basis.
The relationship between law and ethics is weaved together for

2. what people believe is good and evil. The law has the ability to
force doctors and practitioners to perform what they may feel to
be unethical in their practice. Doctors and practitioners who
believe that the rules force them to be unethical must work
within the legal world to change it to what they feel is ethical in
practice. Both laws and ethics work to build a moral line for all
people in healthcare and the world. Breaking an ethical code
will cause embarrassment, confusion, and dissatisfaction;
however, ethical principles do not carry legal penalties with
them as the law does. A personal example of how law and ethics
can be fused was when I replaced my hip. I wanted to make sure
that the nurses, doctors, anesthesiologist, and all other staff
helping with the procedure were on the same page and that there
weren't conflicting issues among all of them. This shows ethics
between all of the team, along with wanting them on the same
page. I would also like to make sure that my privacy was vital,
that my information would not be given out to whoever asked
for it, and that my surgery, diagnosis, etc., was not talked about
to other staff members not working with me personally. If this
privacy were to be broken, that would be a violation of HIPPA,
which is a law of protection of privacy.
There are four primary sources of law. Those are constitutional
law, case law, statutory law, and administrative law.
Constitutional law is derived from federal and state
constitutions and is the highest law in the country. Case law,
also known as common law, is a law set by legal precedent.
Legal precedent means decisions made by judges in the several
courts that become the rule of law even though they were not
established by legislation. Statutory law is laws passed by the
U.S. Congress or state legislatures. Individual laws in this
group of laws are called statutes. Statutes begin as bills at the
federal or state levels. The bills then may become laws, or the
governors may deny them. If the bills are passed, the laws may
be altered, revoked, revised, or replaced by legislatures.
Administrative law is statutes established to determine specific

3. powers and procedures when agencies are created.
Administrative agencies are created by Congress, the president,
or individual state legislatures. Regulations may be passed that
concern the functions of one agency, such as the IRS or OSHA.
2. Kimberly
Knowledge of law and ethics is important to healthcare
practitioners and managers because it helps guide them when
making decisions in their daily work. As a healthcare manager
your job duties include creating new policies, implementing
new procedures, and managing employees. To effectively
manage a facility and employees the healthcare manager needs
to be knowledgeable of the laws that govern the healthcare
industry and understand the healthcare organization's code of
ethics. The healthcare organization will have a code of ethics
for all employees to follow stated in their mission and vision
statements with further information through the human
resources department. Healthcare practitioners are involved
directly with the patients providing care. Through their
education they are taught a code of morals and ethics when
practicing medicine. Laws and ethics are in place to protect
both the healthcare worker and the patient. It enables the
healthcare practitioner to provide the best patient care and avoid
potential legal issues(Judson & Harrison, 2021,p.4).
Laws are a set of societal rules enforced by public
authorities, even though they are clearly written, are often still
debated. Ethics are standards of conduct and moral judgment.
Ethical situations are often debated because what is right from
one person's perspective is considered wrong by the opposing
person. Laws are created as a minimum standard for a society to
follow. Some issues are both right legally and ethically, which
make them easier to follow, others are not. Healthcare
organizations will often have ethics committees to handle
ethical dilemmas. In the healthcare profession, members are

4. expected to uphold the law and perform at a higher
standard(M.U.S.E., 2021).
There are four primary types of law: Constitutional, Case,
Statutory, and Administrative. Constitutional laws originate
from federal and state constitutions. Legal precedence are past
cases, that are written down and referred to, to decide current
cases. Case law is set by legal precedence. Laws that federal or
state legislatures enact are statutes. They start out as federal or
state bills, if the bill is past it becomes a Statutory law.
Administrative law is statutes enacted to define the powers and
procedures of an agency that is created by the president,
Congress, or state legislatures(Judson & Harrison, 2021,p.75).
3. Adrianna Building a provider patient relationship is
such an important part of being in healthcare. Without having a
good provider patient relationship, you risk losing patient’s and
possibly not being able to keep the lights on in the clinic. One
way to maintain this relationship is by keeping the patient’s
information confidential. This includes securing all documents
with patient information on it, locking your computer, not
accessing the patient information unless needed and discussing
the patient information only when needed. One thing to keep in
mind when discussing patient information is where you are
discussing it at. For example, you do not want to discuss a
situation with a patient in the middle of a busy hallway or an
elevator with other people on it. Keeping the patient’s
information private allows the patient to trust you in the long
run. One other way to maintain the provider patient relationship
is to prepare and maintain health records. This can be done by
documenting a visit with the patient soon after the visit took
place and ensuring everything is document thoroughly.
Meaning, if the patient received an immunization at the visit,
this is documented. Maintaining this documentation can help
keep the patient on top of their health and can better manage
care when it is needed (Health IT, 2016). Which builds a better

5. provider patient relationship.
Maintaining a standard of care is also an important piece in
healthcare. Standard of care refers to the level or performance
that is expected of that individual in the healthcare field
(Judson, K. 2020). Keeping the patient’s information
confidential is sort of a given in the healthcare industry. You
should not be discussing the patient’s personal health
information unless it is necessary for you to do so. If it is not, it
is kind of gossiping about the patient. Thus, keeping the patient
information confidential and secure is a level of care that is
expected of a healthcare provider. Another area that is expected
is health records and preparing them and maintaining them. The
golden rule in health care is if it is not documented it did not
happen. Which is why documentation is something that is
expected of healthcare providers. Ensuring documentation of a
recent visit with the patient is completed in a timely manner
helps out other departments as well. For instance, the billing
department. They are not able to submit a claim with the
insurance company until the chart is completely documented,
and you can only bill the insurance company so long after a date
of service. With that being said, preparing and maintain health
records helps maintain a standard of care.
4. Zachary Henderson
The two guidelines from this list I have
chosen are “document accurately” and “follow legal guidelines
and maintain awareness of health care legislation and
regulations”. Documenting accurately is vital in healthcare
whether it is inputting the patients’ information/demographics
or inputting their medical information in order to bill. The
information reported on MUST be ACCURATE. How are we to
build effective provider/patient relationships if we mistakenly
enter the wrong contact number, date of birth, billing house
address, etc. These mistakes can be costly. On a more serious

6. scale, what happens if a patient's left leg is injured but we
mistakenly document the right leg? Human nature suggests
these types of errors will occur but again it is imperative that
they do not. In-home healthcare (The field I work in) I
understand when an RN (registered nurse) completes an
assessment/evaluation on a patient they are to document the
primary reason and secondary reason for the visit. There are
codes called Diagnosis codes (DX codes) that are generated
based on the specific issue a patient is having. For example: If a
patient has hypertension their DX code is I10 or if they have
COVID 19 it is U00. Documenting the correct Diagnosis is
important because these DX codes help determine the HIPPS
code. The HIPPS code is a billing code based on the patient’s
source & timing, Clinical Group, functional level, and
comorbidity. Simply, if the DX code is not documented
correctly if will impact the reimbursement rate and or if the
patient meets the medical criteria for the services provided. In
the case of misdiagnosing or choosing the wrong code by
mistake, the outcome can be the cancellation of care which
could potentially harm a patient who truly does need care.
Documenting correctly directly affects the standard of care the
patient receives.
Following legal guidelines and maintaining awareness of
healthcare legislation and regulations is clearly important. As
healthcare professionals, we need to be aware of the laws and
regulations that are in place to ensure compliance and help
maintain adequate levels of care. As a provider (from my
experience) it eases a patient’s mind when they are confident
the people who are in charge of their care are educated
medically, on regulations, and on the law. As a provider, we are
to understand the entire process from start to finish. Example:
The centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) changed the
billing process from a Prospective payment system (PPS) into
Patient-Driven Grouping Model (PDGM) in 2020. This payment
structure change also changed how providers provide care.

7. PDGM was created and implemented in ensure patients are
receiving the highest level of care and not looked at as easy
money (My words). This change will (in my opinion) help
providers and healthcare professionals build better relationships
with their patients and truly provide better quality care. If we as
providers were not educated and were not aware of these
changes, we would not be able to service the patients and
community with the highest level of care. In conclusion, being
aware of the laws, regulations, and legislation directly affects
patient care and the level of confidence they (the patient) have
in our services. In order to provide quality care (which should
be the goal), we MUST document accurately, follow the law,
maintain awareness of healthcare legislation and regulations.
5 . Suwah-
What were the most compelling topics learned in this course?
This course was very much interesting and informative,
however, the most compelling topics for me is as follows:
Chapter 4. Law, the courts, and contracts
Chapter 8. Privacy, Security, and fraud
Chapter 13. Stakeholders, costs and patient’s Rights.
The above topics were compelling for me because the
information pertaining to these topics are dense and
informative. One has to do a lot of research in order to be
concise with information I put out there.
How did participating in discussions help your understanding of
the subject matter? Is anything still unclear that could be

8. clarified?
Participating in this class discussion was so essential for me. I
learned a whole lot more from my classmates and I was able to
gather information from my classmates' posts and did further
research that guided me along the way.
What approaches could have yielded additional valuable
information?
The approaches taken during this course period was very
educational. Knowing my strength and weakness in presenting
paper writing was phenomenal. For me, I don’t think any
additional valuable information needs to be yield, the course
was taught with great communication, knowledge and
understanding.
How do you think the HIPAA certificate will help you as you
seek a job in health care?
Though I have not done it yet, I believe having a HIPAA
certificate will be of more help in my career path as I pursue my
degree in Healthcare Management. However, I am closely
looking into doing it before the end of this week.
6. Maria
I enjoyed this class; I learned a lot which is pertinent to my
career path. Every topic and discussion helped me to explore
and gain a more in-depth knowledge of the healthcare system.
Healthcare is such a vast technical topic, but this class has
helped me gain more insight and understanding. The topic on
HIPAA was very compelling, not only about patient

9. confidentiality, privacy, and security, but also learning what is
contained in each standard, all the rules and regulations. I knew
about HIPAA, but not to the extent of what I gleaned from this
class. Research on the different topics, and live chats (archived)
has allowed me to garner more information on this very
important piece of legislation.
I currently work for a healthcare organization and my goal is to
continue my career in the industry. I am glad I did the training
because it not only enhanced what I already knew about HIPAA,
but I learn so much more. I believe the HIPAA certification will
give me an edge towards my career advancement. (Thanks a lot,
CTU).
The only approach that I think would have made a difference
would be to have live chats the first day of class as oppose to
the day before an assignment is due.
Information gained from the textbook and live chats have
helped tremendously. I enjoyed the discussion boards because
for the most part there are no right or wrong answers, just
different perspectives which I appreciate.