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from Discussion Thread: Legal Responsibilities of Medical Office Personnel
May 16, 2023, 7:39PM
Jennifer Kennedy (Jen)
Medical office personnel have a legal responsibility towards physicians, patients, and the
state in which they work. The health care industry is governed by a certain set of rules,
regulations, laws and ethical standards. Laws are in place to protect individuals when
making decisions about their health care. In addition, they also set out the responsibilities
of health care professionals. (Dam, 2019) As a medical office professional, you will want to
be aware of the nature of your employment. Additionally, you must always remember that
you work in a field that is highly regulated by federal and state regulations. Not knowing a
law or regulation, will not excuse a medical office professional’s violation. This is what
makes learning and understanding basic principles of the law, so important. A patients first
interaction with a health care facility, usually begins with office personnel. (Flight & Pardew,
2018) Medical office personnel have a duty to protect patient privacy, in accordance with
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). HIPPA law is a federal law
requiring health care professionals to ensure the confidentiality of patient health
information. Positive patient interactions can minimize nonmedical and non legal variables
involving a malpractice suit and may also prevent a legitimate complaint from developing
into a full-blown lawsuit. To be the best professional you can be, an understanding of the
health care industry is a must. To help protect your employer, means representing them in a
professional manner, and ensuring you do everything to prevent lawsuits, complaints,
regulatory violations, mistakes, and any other act that creates a risk for yourself, your
patient, or your employer. (Flight & Pardew, 2018)
References
Flight, M., Pardew, W. M. (2018). Law, Liability, and Ethics for Medical Office Professionals
(6th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Dam, D. (2019). An overview of the legal and ethical issues in healthcare/StPatrick.
https://www.st-Patrick’s. ac.uk/blog/posts/2019/October/an-overview-of-the-legal-and-
ethical-issues-in-healthcare Links to an external site.
from Discussion Thread: Legal Responsibilities of Medical Office Personnel Reply
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May 17, 2023, 8:34PM
Jennifer Kennedy (Jen)
Hi Jennifer!
I thought your discussion was very good, and I enjoyed reading it. I also really liked how you
touched base on the physician mandatory reporting. I’m mad at myself for not thinking to
mentioning that one :) Mandatory Reporting Laws- is mandatory reporting a legally
enforceable duty for those who have contact with vulnerable populations to report to state
and local authorities when mistreatment or abuse of those populations is suspected or
confirmed. (Thomas, 2022) It is something that’s extremely important especially involving
anything with a child. For example, when there is suspicion or even signs of child
abuse/and or neglect, and the mother is either too scared, being the abuser, or doesn’t see
the signs herself, that physician gives that child a voice. Abuse in the pediatric population is
a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. (Thomas, 2022)
References
Thomas, R. (2022, July 11). Mandatory Reporting Laws. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf.
https://www.ncbi.non.nih.gov/books/NBK560690 Links to an external site.
from Discussion Thread: Legal Responsibilities of Medical Office Personnel Reply
May 22, 2023, 8:55PM
Jennifer Kennedy (Jen)
Hi Myesha,
I really enjoyed reading your post in the discussion board this week. When you mentioned
office personnel must follow workplace policies and procedures, maintain a safe work
environment for themselves and others, report any incidents or accidents promptly to their
supervisors, and use equipment appropriately I couldn’t agree more. Especially about
following workplace policies and procedures. Healthcare policy is important because it
establishes guidelines that benefit patients, healthcare organizations, and our healthcare
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system. Having protocols in place can help prevent human error and poor communication.
The policy and procedure manual are essential to running an efficient operation. Its
purpose is a multi fold: to serve as a training and orientation guide for new employees, to
serve as an ongoing reference for staff members, to serve as a risk management tool that
lowers liability exposure in the office. We also have to remember that each facility has their
own separate office policies and procedures. What might be acceptable in one facility,
might not be appropriate in the next.
Officer, O. O. T. C. I. (2022). HHS Policy for Records Management. HHS.gov.
https://www.hhs.gov/web/governance/digital-strategy/it-policy-archive/hhs-ocio-policy-
for-records-management.html Links to an external site.
