The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was discussed in 1996. The rule was enacted to ensure that some medical records are kept private. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA privacy rule and the protection regulation to answer this requirement. Medical confidentiality entails keeping a patient’s medical information private and hidden and correspondence to and from doctors (Kayaalp, 2018). Medical personnel is responsible for keeping their patient’s medical records confidential. Medical information must be kept confidential.
The most crucial advantage of concealing a patient’s identity is fostering trust between the doctor and the patient. In addition to preserving patients’ privacy, updating digital security helps prevent hackers from breaking in. There are several methods for keeping patient information secret. The first step is establishing stringent privacy regulations and agreements (Surani et al., 2017). Confidentiality differs from privacy. A customer or patient, for example, has the right to be left alone and to determine who has access to their personal information. The federal HIPAA Privacy Rule shows this type of rule. “Security” is an abbreviation meaning “protection.” It refers to the efforts to ensure that medical personnel maintains confidential patient records. Paper medical data are kept secure by taking basic precautions such as locking filing cabinets. This has been done for quite some time.
Everyone on the medical team should be aware of their responsibilities. There should be possibilities for medical personnel to continue their education. Keeping sensitive health information away from persons who do not require it for care or do not have the authorization to view it. The security systems must not overlook any information. As healthcare quality improves and the number of patients increases, so does the data stored. Most hospitals have had issues with gathering and keeping data, but these issues have been mitigated by the security precautions implemented by cloud service providers.
The medical personnel has extensive access to social media tools. Microblogs, blogs, social networks, games, and augmented and virtual reality are a few examples. To improve these fields, these technologies have been applied to education, professional networking, patient education, public health, and patient care (Ventola, 2014). If their users spend much time on social media, High-Performance Computing systems may lose their credentials and licenses (HCP). Multiple instances of HCPs violating professional regulations on social media were reported to licensing authorities in the United States, resulting in disciplinary action. Nurses who violate the legislation, such as revealing patients about their medical history, may get a letter of reprimand or possibly have their nursing license revoked.
When HIPAA laws are breached, it can have a negative impact on a professional’s career. In the worst-case scenario, employees who inadvertently violate HIPAA regulations risk losing their employment and being prosecuted with a felony. Federal sanctions for not obeying the legislation are based on how reckless the government believes the corporation was at the time of the HIPAA violation. The maximum annual penalty for each infringement is $1.5 million, with fines ranging from $100 to $50,000 per violation (or record).
Healthcare privacy rules are frequently violated because people are negligent or do not understand what the HIPAA regulations require. In addition to ensuring that ePHI is compliant, healthcare institutions must ensure that their workers have received extensive HIPAA training and understand how to handle and disclose patients’ protected health information. Employees can protect or compromise confidentiality by not sharing passwords or login information, not leaving portable devices or documents unattended, not texting patient information, not throwing away PHI with regular trash, not looking at patient records out of curiosity, and not sharing ePHI (including photos) on social media (Including Photos).
In short, social media is essential in the realm of healthcare. Using social media to enhance relationships and get relevant information may be beneficial. This is an excellent opportunity for patients and nurses to meet people from different nations in similar situations. When utilizing social and electronic media, a nurse must be mindful of workplace norms, federal and state legislation, and ethical considerations regarding patient privacy and confidentiality. This is because social media may be used to disclose patient information. Nurses can utilize social media for their professional and personal lives without jeopardizing their patients’ privacy or confidentiality.
References
Kayaalp, M. (2018). Patient Privacy in the Era of Big Data. Balkan medical journal, 35(1), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.4274/balkanmedj.2017.0966
Surani, Z., Hirani, R., Elias, A., Quisenberry, L., Varon, J., Surani, S., & Surani, S. (2017). Social media usage among health care providers. BMC research notes, 10(1), 654. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2993-y
Ventola C. L. (2014). Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best practices. P & T: a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, 39(7), 491–520.
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