question

What are the HIM professional's core ethical obligations?

answer

~Preserve the personal health information. ~Protect patient privacy and confidential information. ~Assure security of that information.

question

Moral Intelligence

answer

Is important for understanding the complexity of the issues faced and how values, goals and actions are applied, in ethical decision making.

question

Why does the focus of technology and human relationships, increase ethical imperatives?

answer

Because, what is done, how it is done, and what the intended (and sometimes unintended) outcomes are must be carefully examined.

question

Autonomy

answer

The core ethical principle centered on the individual's right to self-determination that includes respect for the individual; in clinical applications, the patient's right to determine what does or does not happen to them in terms of healthcare.

question

Beneficence

answer

A legal term that means promoting good for others or providing services that benefit others, such as releasing health information that will help a patient receive care or will ensure payment for services received.

question

Nonmaleficence

answer

A legal principle that means do no harm.

question

Justice

answer

The impartial administration of policies or laws that takes into consideration the competing interests and limited resources of the individual or groups involved.

question

Moral Values

answer

A system of principles by which one guides their life, usually with regard to right and wrong.

question

Ethical Agent

answer

An individual who promotes and supports ethical behavior.

question

Ethics

answer

A field of study that deals with moral principles, theories, and values; in healthcare, a formal decision-making process for dealing with the competing perspectives and obligations of the people who have an interest in a common problem.

question

Ethical Decision Making

answer

The process of requiring everyone to consider the perspectives of others, even when they do not agree with them. It requires people to explore choices beyond the perspective of simple right or wrong (moral) options.

question

Ehticist

answer

An individual trained in the application of ethical theories and principles to problems that cannot be easily solved because of conflicting values, perspectives, and options for action.

question

Bioethics

answer

A field of study that applies ethical principles to decisions that affect the lives of humans, such as whether to approve or deny access to health information. It involves problems or issues regarding clinical care of the health information system that are never strictly theoretical in nature and must always result in a decision and an action.

question

Privacy

answer

The right of an individual to be left alone. It includes freedom from observation or intrusion into one's private affairs and the right to maintain control over certain personal and health information.

question

Confidentiality

answer

A legal and ethical concept that establishes the healthcare provider's responsibility for protecting health records and other personal and private information from unauthorized use or disclosure.

question

Security

answer

Includes the physical and electronic protection of the integrity, availability, and confidentiality or computer-based information and the resources used to enter, store, process, and communicate it; and the means to control access and protect information from accidental or intentional disclosure.

question

What does the responsibility of the HIM professional include?

answer

~Ensuring patient privacy and confidential information is protected. ~That security measures are used to prevent unauthorized access. ~Ensuring that the release policies and procedures are accurate and up-to-date. ~That the release policies and procedures are followed. ~That all violations are reported to the proper authorities.

question

What does HIPAA include?

answer

~Privacy ~Information Standards ~Data Integrity ~Confidentiality ~Data Security

question

What are some of the provisions of the 2009 ARRA legislation that affect HIPAA?

answer

~The application of the security and privacy provision to business associates. ~The notification requirements in the event of a breach. ~The educational requirements regarding health information privacy. ~The restrictions on the disclosure and sale of health information. ~The accounting requirements of certain protected health information disclosures. ~Auditing Standards ~Other related issues.

question

What was part of the impetus (push) for HIPAA?

answer

The development of the electronic health record.

question

As patients become more aware of the misuses of information, they are reluctant to share information with their healthcare team. What are some of the problems that can result from this?

answer

~The healthcare provided. ~The information given to researchers, insurers, the government, and the many other stakeholders who legitimately need to access the information.

question

Accountable Care Organizations (ACO)

answer

Intended to pay providers in a way that encourages collaboration, discourages supplier induced demand, and rewards high-quality care.

question

What do important health information issues include?

answer

~What information should be collected. ~How the information should be handled. ~Who should have access to the information. ~Under what conditions the information should be disclosed.

question

Health information ethical and professional values are based on, what?

answer

Obligations to the patient, the healthcare team, the employer, the interests of the public, and oneself, one's peers, and one's professional associations.

question

With regard to the patient and the healthcare team, the HIM professional is obligated to:....?

answer

~Protect health, medical, genetic, social, personal, and adoption information. ~Protect confidential information. ~Provide service to those who seek access to patient information. ~Preserve and secure health information. ~Promote the quality and advancement of healthcare. ~Function within the scope of responsibility and restrain from passing clinical judgement.

question

What are some examples of the kind of information that is included in clinical information?

answer

~Diagnoses ~Procedures ~Pharmaceutical Dosages ~Genetic Risk Factors

question

What are some examples of behavioral information?

answer

~Use of drugs or alcohol ~High risk hobbies ~Sexual habits

question

Why is it important to protect genetic and social information?

answer

So patients will not be vulnerable to the risks of discrimination.

question

What does protecting confidential information involve?

answer

~Ensuring that the information collected and documented is protected by all members of the healthcare team and by anyone with access to the information. ~Protection of verbal communications on behalf of a patient and can involve communication with those in the legal profession, the media, or others who seek patient information.

question

What individuals may request access to patient information?

answer

~Healthcare providers (insurance, research or pharmaceutical companies.) ~Government agencies ~Employers

question

The preservation and security of health information includes, what?

answer

Obligations to maintain and protect the medium that stores the information, such as paper documentation and information stored in EHRs, including the protection of all databases and detailed secondary records and registries.

question

What might a HIM professional need to become an expertise in and why?

answer

Clinical medicine, Pharmacology, Biostatistics, and Quality Improvement Methodologies, so as to interpret clinical information and support research, based on work responsibilities.

question

With regard to the employer, the HIM professional is obligated to:.....?

answer

~Demonstrate loyalty to the employer. ~Protect committee and task force deliberations. ~Comply with all laws, regulations, and policies that govern the health information system. ~Recognize both the authority and the power associated with the job responsibility. ~Accept compensation only in relationship to work responsibilities.

question

How can loyalty to an employer be demonstrated?

answer

By respecting and following the policies, rules, and regulations of employment unless they are illegal or unethical.

question

What should the HIM professional keep up-to-date with?

answer

~State and Federal Laws ~Accrediting and Licensing Standards ~Employer Policies and Procedures ~Any other standards the affect the health information system.

question

To be sure the HIM expertise is presented and understood, where must the HIM professional be present?

answer

At strategic meetings with clinical providers, administrative staff, and financial and operations management personnel.

question

What does 'Accept compensation only in relationship to work responsibilities', mean?

answer

Don't take bribes.

question

With regard to the public interest, the HIM professional is obligated to: ....?

answer

~Advocate change when patterns or system problems are not in the best interests of the patients. ~Report violations of public standards to the proper authorities. ~Promote interdisciplinary cooperation and collaboration.

question

With regard to the HIM professional, what does 'change agent' mean?

answer

Lead initiatives to change laws, rules, and regulations that do not ensure the integrity of patient information, including the protection of privacy and confidentiality.

question

Where should the HIM professional be proactive?

answer

Protecting patients, the healthcare team, the organization, the professional association, peers, and themselves.

question

As an important member of the healthcare team, the HIM professional should work with others to, what?

answer

Analyze and address health information issues, facilitate conflict resolution, and recognize the expertise and dignity of his or her fellow team members.

question

With regard to self, peers, and professional associations, the HIM professional is obligated to:.....?

answer

~Be honest about degrees, credentials, and work experiences. ~Bring honor to oneself, one's peers and one's profession. ~Commit to continuing education and lifelong learning. ~Strengthen health information professional membership. ~Represent the health information profession to the public. ~Promote and participate in health information research.

question

Bring honor to oneself, one's peers and one's profession, refers to what?

answer

Personal competency and professional behavior.

question

In general, the HIM professional's primary responsibilities include those related to:.....?

answer

Designing and Implementing a system to ensure the completeness, accuracy, integrity, and timeliness of health information.

question

What information crime is one of the fasting growing ethical issues?

answer

Medical Identity Theft

question

Where is the strongest clustering of medical identity thefts in the United States?

answer

~Florida ~California (especially southern California) ~New York ~Arizona ~Texas

question

What is Medical Identity Theft?

answer

An information crime that occurs when an individual's health information is misrepresented and used by an unauthorized individual to obtain healthcare goods, services, or money to which they are neither eligible nor entitled.

question

Why is it almost impossible to detect or correct medical identification fraud?

answer

Because medical information systems have multiple access points across the continuum of the healthcare system.

question

What are the two parts of the HITECH proposed rule on HIPAA under the HITECH Act of 2011?

answer

~The right to an accounting of disclosures. ~The right to a report on access.

question

How do audit trails help prevent fraud?

answer

By identifying both internal and external disclosures, rather than allowing the EHRs to exacerbate the problem.

question

How can data be entered into the health information system?

answer

~Manually ~Electronically ~Through PDAs ~Through Wireless Systems ~From Laptops

question

What can HIM professionals do as part of patient advocacy roles?

answer

~Facilitate the patient's ability to review and correct errors in their medical records ~Prevent discrimination. ~Pay attention to their pleas if they think they are victims of medical identity theft. ~Reconsider the importance of analysis. ~Consider advocacy to amend the HIPAA rules and regulations related to accounting of disclosures to include problems related to internal participants. ~Participate in HIM research studies that help identify occurrences and sources of medical identity theft. ~Conduct needed risk assessments as the NHIN becomes more of a reality, the EHR can make this crime easier. ~Design systems that can assess employees' integrity and accountability. ~Design educational programs to ensure that colleagues understand and value the HIM Code of Ethics. ~Consider establishing policies so that patients who are victims of medical identity fraud do not have to pay for the costs of duplicating their files.

question

Why is a code of ethics important?

answer

It helps guide the decision-making process and can be referenced by individuals, agencies, organizations, and bodies (such as licensing and regulatory boards, insurance providers, courts of law, agency boards of directors, government agencies, and other professional groups), among others.

question

Why have healthcare facilities, increasingly, abandoned the practice of charging patients for copies of their health records?

answer

Because of the rationale that the information belongs to them and providing copies is an important customer service.

question

Retrospective Documentation Practices

answer

Those where healthcare providers add documentation after care has been given for the purpose of increasing reimbursement or avoiding a medical legal action.

question

Unacceptable Documentation Practices

answer

Practices that include backdating progress notes or other documentation in the patient's record and changing the documentation to reflect the known outcomes of care (versus what was done at the time of the actual care).

question

What are three primary ethical problems that are pertinent to the release of information (ROI)?

answer

~Violations of the need-to-know principle ~Misuse of blanket authorizations ~Violations of privacy that occur as a result of secondary release of information procedures.

question

Need-to-Know Principle

answer

The release-of-information principle based on the minimum necessary standard that means that only the information needed by a specific individual to perform a specific task should be released.

question

How could a patients privacy be violated as a result of the release of information?

answer

Through subsequent discrimination via documentation that reveals social habits, genetic risks, and family history of disease, that have nothing to do with the medical condition being treated.

question

Blanket Authorization

answer

An authorization for the release of confidential information from a certain point in time and any time thereafter.

question

What is the problem with blanket authorizations?

answer

There is no way for the patient to know that the information is being accessed.

question

Secondary Release of Information

answer

A type of information release in which the initial requester forwards confidential information to others without obtaining required patient authorization.

question

What criteria must be factored into the HIM professionals decision making?

answer

~Cost ~Technological Feasibility ~Federal and State Laws ~Medical Staff Bylaws ~Accreditation and Licensing Standards ~Employer Policies, Rules, or Regulations ~Ethical Principles ~Professional Values

question

What is the eight-step process to guide ethical decision making?

answer

(1) What is the ethical question? (2) What facts do you know and what do you need to find out? (3) Who are the different stakeholders, what values are at stake, and what are the shared and different obligations and interests of each of the stakeholders? (4) What options for action do you have? (5) What decision should you make and what core HIM values are at stake? (6) What justifies the choice and what are the value-based reasons to support the decision? (7) What choice or choices cannot be justified? (8) What prevention options can be put into place so that this issue will not come up again?

question

What are some of the issues raised because of the uses of information?

answer

~Clinical Code Selection and Use ~Quality Review ~Research and Decision Support ~Public Health ~Managed Care ~Clinical Care

question

What are some ethical problems that are directly linked to coding and payment for care?

answer

~Pressure to code inappropriate levels of service. ~Discovering misrepresentation in physician documentation. ~Miscoding to avoid conflicts. ~Discovering miscoding by other staff. ~Lacking the tools and educational background to code accurately. ~Being required by employers to engage in negligent coding practices.

question

What are some fraud and abuse problems?

answer

~Documentation that does not justify the billed procedure. ~Acceptance of money for information. ~Fraudulent retrospective documentation on the part of the provider to avoid suspension. ~Code assignment without physician documentation.

question

What are some of the contributing factors to the ethical problems faced by quality management professionals?

answer

~The rising cost of healthcare. ~Limited resources ~Concerns with patient safety.

question

What are some of the common quality outcome problems?

answer

~Inaccurate performance data that are inappropriately shared with the public. ~Negative care outcomes, such as infections, that occur in the course of providing home healthcare. ~Failure to check a physician's licensure status. ~Incomplete health records hidden in preparation for accreditation or licensure surveys. ~Patterns of inappropriate healthcare.

question

What do research and decision-support responsibilities include?

answer

~Ensuring data integrity and confidentiality. ~Ensuring compliance with human subject research protocols. ~Maintaining and enhancing professional competence.

question

What conditions require mandatory state and local reporting?

answer

Infectious and Communicable Diseases.

question

What poses new ethical dilemmas in the management of health information?

answer

~New threats of Bio-terrorism ~Global Infections such as, Anthrax, SARS, H1N1, and Avian Flu.

question

So medical crises can be resolved, what needs to be balanced?

answer

Patient Privacy and Public Health

question

What are some of the job responsibilities involved with strategies regarding pricing, access to providers and quality of care?

answer

~Providing information about provider practices. ~Providing patient clinical and demographic information. ~Establishing policies and procedures that provide for patient privacy.

question

What are some of the difficult decisions that must be made, with regard to end-of-life decisions?

answer

~Aging. ~Frailty ~Autonomy of those near death ~Physician bias and equity ~Treatment choices ~Treatment goals ~Beneficence ~Advance Care Planning ~Palliative Care ~Managing Pain

question

What are some of the sensitive ROI topics that are faced with ethical decisions?

answer

~Genetic ~Drug and Alcohol Use ~Psychiatric ~Communicable Disease ~Adoption Information

question

What are the two levels of genetic information that can be reported in an information system?

answer

~Presence of a Disease. ~Presence of a Risk of Disease

question

What are some of the issues, related to genetic information, that the HIM professional must be aware of?

answer

~Genetic research and testing can give researchers, clinicians, and patients a means to prevent, treat, or screen for a disease. ~Insurers and employers may seek genetic information to identify at-risk individuals and deny them employment or insurance coverage, fire them, or raise their premiums. ~It is difficult to provide special protections for genetic information as a category because it cannot be clearly separated from other medical information. ~The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides a basic level of privacy and confidentiality protection for protected health information however, it does not preempt state laws that offer a higher level of privacy protection. ~The generation of experimental data by a research protocol is not specifically addressed by most state laws. ~HIM professionals have the responsibility to ensure that their practices are guided by state and federal laws and regulations to protect genetic information and by ethical imperative to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients.

question

What are two reasons genetic information may be sought?

answer

~Custody Battles ~Third-Party Liability

question

What is the best way to protect genetic information?

answer

Strengthen privacy and confidentiality protections for medical information in general and to enact anti-discrimination legislation.

question

What are some of the national codes and international agreements, and agencies that review research proposals with a focus of protecting research participants?

answer

~The Nuremberg Code ~The Helsinki Agreement ~The National Research Act of 1974 ~The Belmont Report ~Bioethics Commissions ~HIPAA ~IRB

question

What are the ethical principles that are engaged in research?

answer

~Respect for autonomy (self-determination) ~Beneficence (promoting good) ~Nonmaleficence (do no harm) ~Justice (fairness)

question

What does the respect of autonomy require?

answer

An ability of the participant to understand and authorize the research through informed consent.

question

What does beneficence require?

answer

That benefit is possible.

question

What does nonmaleficence require?

answer

That patients will not be intentionally harmed.

question

What does justice require?

answer

Fairness in the enrollment of participants.

question

With regard to research projects, who is included in 'vulnerable populations'?

answer

~Children ~Persons who are cognitively impaired ~Comatose ~Drug Addicts ~Economically Disadvantaged ~Elderly ~Institutionalized ~Non-English speaking employees ~Low Literacy Persons ~Minorities ~Persons involved in illegal activities ~Pregnant Women ~Babies (fetuses) ~Neonates ~In-Vitro ~Prisoners ~Students (over the age of 18)

question

The advent of electronic information system has presented complex challenges with regard to what?

answer

~Record Integrity and Information Security ~Integrated Linkage of Information Systems across a continuum of care ~Software Development and Implementation ~The Protection of Information in e-Health Systems

question

What are some of the ethical challenges facing HIM professionals, with regard to the EHR?

answer

~Developing and maintaining information and systems security. ~Exchanging information within and across jurisdictions. ~Executing technical and clinical services contracts. ~Handling release of information. ~Implementing and managing telehealth applications. ~Maintaining and documenting compliance with HIPAA and state privacy rules. ~Maintaining the legal electronic medical record.

question

What does some of the HIM professionals continuing education, as Interdisciplinary Facilitator, include?

answer

~Organizational Development ~Team Building ~Conflict Resolution

question

Why is data resource management included in the expertise of the HIM professional?

answer

Because EHRs generate data repositories and huge amounts of health information of interest to many people.

question

To the HIM professional, advocacy is, what?

answer

Ethics in Action: choosing to take a stand for and speak out for the rights or needs of a person, group, organization, or community.

question

What are some of the HIM problems that require advocacy?

answer

~Protecting the privacy of prominent citizens. ~Demonstrating compassion for drug-dependent peers. ~Protecting the work environment for HIM employees. ~Ensuring that consent forms are properly designed so that patients understand what they are signing and so that patient information is protected from unauthorized secondary disclosure.

question

What does the advocacy role require?

answer

~HIM Expertise ~Ethical Expertise ~An Understanding of the Patient's Bill of Rights

question

What are some of the ethical dilemmas faced by vendors?

answer

~What issues are raised when vendors are also friends? ~What is the appropriate use of gifts? ~Should some vendors be preferred when dealing with requests for proposals? ~How can you assure ethical dealings when negotiating contracts?

Chapter 12: Ethical Issues in Health Information Management – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards