Technology continues to become increasingly integrated into society, which increases our
efficiency in gathering and utilizing information. The convenience of information at your
fingertips has caused a growing relationship between technology and healthcare. This has led to
ethical dilemmas regarding its use in healthcare. This paper will serve to present the roles of the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) along with other laws and
regulations regarding technology in healthcare. Additionally, a hypothetical scenario will be
analyzed.
Laws and Regulation
HIPPA serves to protect patient privacy, along with what healthcare information can and
cannot be disclosed (Kornusky & Caple, 2018). HIPPA covers all healthcare information,
including printed, hand-written, and electronic; which can identify the patient in any way. This
not only includes the medical record, but also insurance information, correspondence, and
payments. HIPPA provides regulation of the transmission of all protected health information
(PHI) in verbal, printed, hand-written, or electronic form. A nurse is legally and ethically bound
to maintain confidentiality of all information regarding their patients, this means full compliance
with all HIPPA regulations (Kornusky & Caple, 2018). Nurses must read and understand HIPPA
along with their employer’s policies in order to prevent violations. Violations can be as simple as
discussing PHI in public areas, failing to log out of medical records, and sharing logins and
badges with other people, including coworkers (Kornusky & Caple, 2018). Regardless if a nurse
has consent from someone, they are not allowed to access their PHI if they are not under their
care. The disclosure of PHI can only be to family or friends directly involved in patient care or
payment if they have consent from the patient (Kornusky & Caple, 2018).
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