Ethics & The Health Information Management Professional

Healthcare information technology (HIT) is information technology(IT) applied to health care. It supports health information management throughout computerized systems and technology such as fax machines, telephone, mobile communications and the secure exchange of health information between patients, customers, providers, payers, and quality monitors. The use of electronic health records (EHRs) is regarded as the most significant encouraging tool for improving quality, safety, and efficiency of the health delivery system (AMA, 2015 – 2017 ). 

The goal of HIT is to improve health care quality and its effectiveness, increase healthcare productivity and efficiency. This is an important new aspect of healthcare that is significant to everyone, whether you are the patient or the provider. The use of technology in healthcare is an excellent tool for the prevention of medical errors, increasing health care accuracy, procedural correctness, and most important reducing health care cost (HealthIT.gov, 2014).

IT can improve administrative abilities, healthcare production processes; eliminate costly paperwork and unproductive work time. The use of technology in healthcare can extend real-time communications of health informatics among health care professionals; and expand access to affordable care. Paperwork can be inefficient, causes bulky storage issues, really hard to sometimes access and files are bound to get lost. With the use of computer technology, these issues are easily resolved by pressing a few keys (HealthIT.gov, 2014).

The prospective benefits of electronic health information exchange promise an excellent outcome for individuals and the U.S. health care system, because of better-quality medical care and lower cost. Altogether, this situation can also create a  new group of problems for protecting individually identifiable health information. As with all other forms of computer technology involving the transmission of personal and private information is the added tasks of ensuring the security of this communication. Everyone who is involved with handling patient information is responsible for the protection of this information by law. This places new added responsibilities upon the healthcare provider and also the IT/health information management (HIM) professional involved in the maintenance of the provider's systems.(HealthIT.gov, 2016).

The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules apply to all healthcare providers and professionals. Now with the prevalent use of computers, software, and the internet to transmit digitized data implemented by new HIPAA rules, this also produces new susceptibilities to cybercrimes. Cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone including healthcare providers, patients, business associates (including IT consultants) and the U.S. Government.(HealthIT.gov, 2014).

The list of needs to safeguarding your personal information continues with providing the knowledge and experience of network components, dedicated phone or cable lines, wireless systems, anti-virus, firewall and cloud software. There are maintenance issues involved with the system(s) and keeping the hardware and software up to date. The ability to provide encryption for information stored and transmitted in the system is a tool which is extremely necessary for HIPPA security and privacy issues. The HIM professional must fully understand the HIPAA security standards and follow and enforce the guidelines. This brings up the question of ethics concerning IT professional.(Jensen, Cline, & Guynes, 2007).

The ethical obligations of the Health Information Management (HIM) professional include the safeguarding of privacy and security of health information; disclosure of health information; development, use, and maintenance of health information systems and health information; and ensuring the accessibility and integrity of health information. The job of the HIM professional carries a lot of added responsibilities and ethical standards the individual performing the job must comply with from a legal perspective. As professionals in this field, we are obligated to ensure that we carry the trust of our employer and the public to safeguard and obtain the required expertise in the protection of the information in the world of business and interactions with consumers.

 AMERICAN HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION CODE         OF ETHICS      

The HIM professional has an obligation and is required to demonstrate actions that reflect values, ethical principles, and guidelines. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Code of Ethics sets forth and establishes these values and beliefs to guide conduct. A health information management professional has the responsibility to safeguard all confidential patient information. Safeguard the confidentiality of all information attained in the way of professional services. Disclosing only information necessary to achieve the purpose of disclosure. Release information only with legal authorization from a patient or a person legally authorized to consent on behalf of a patient or as allowed by federal or state regulations. The minimum necessary standard is essential when releasing health information for disclosure activities.(KBL781, 2011)

                                                             References                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             AMA. (2015 – 2017 ). Helping your practice. Retrieved from HIPAA privacy and security toolkit: https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/media-browser/premium/washington/hipaa-toolkit_0.pdf

            HeathIT.gov. (2014, September 25). Health IT Legislation and Regulations. Retrieved from Policymaking, Regulation, & Strategy: https://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/health-it-legislation-and-regulations    

            HealthIT.gov. (2014, March 14). Protecting the Privacy and Security of Your Health Information. Retrieved from Protecting Your Privacy & Security: https://www.healthit.gov/patients-families/protecting-your-privacy-security  

            HeathIT.gov. (2016). ONC Health IT Certification Program Provides Assurance. Retrieved from ONC Health IT Certification Program: https://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/onc-health-it-certification-program

            Jenson, B. K., Cline, M., & Guynes, C. S. (2007, June). HIPPA, privacy, and organizational change: a challenge for management. SIGCAS Computers and Society, 37(1), 12-17. Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/purchase.cfm?id=1273354&CFID=820169798&CFTOKEN=31339687 

            KBL781. (2011, October 24). AHIMA Code of Ethics (2004). Retrieved from Illinois Institute of Technology: http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/node/4802