Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Issues

Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Issues
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Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security Issues
1 Describe at least one event where privacy or confidentiality or security of client data was violated.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) assisted by the use of information technology (IT) ensure that the patient’s information is confidential and secure. The main objective of HIPAA’s Privacy Rule is to guarantee that the health information of an individual is protected properly while facilitating the flow of information necessary for in providing and promoting high quality care (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). However, despite the fact that IT has facilitated the confidentiality the patients’ information, there are some cases in which the electronic data could be compromised. For instance, according to Simpson (2005), although electronic medical records are more secure compared to paper records, they are problematic since they could be dispersed widely.
For instance, some situations may necessitate the health care provider to obtain the patient’s medical information from the Website. Clearly, this violates the privacy of the patient owing to the fact that such information is obtained without the patient’s consent. In addition, such information may not be accurate since it may not have been updated. Consequently, the use of the patient information that is obtained from the Web site may compromise the quality of patient care and thus threatening the patient safety. In this case, the possibility of making medical errors is very high especially if the information obtained from the Web site is inaccurate.
Another situation in which the privacy of the patient’s data may be violated is the use of cybermedicine. Simpson (2006) asserts that just like telemedicine, cybermedicine is dubious with...