Discussion

Answer the Discussion Board board questions in paragraph form. Use at least 4 references from peer-reviewed articles.

1.     Your office has a relaxed policy with regard to the release of information in health records. A patient asks to see his record. You know that there is information in the record regarding telephone calls from the patient’s relatives that would interfere with the family relationship. The physician is away for a week. How would you handle the matter?

2.     A health record has been subpoenaed and a court order accompanies it. The physician has removed important parts of the record. You know that this information is missing. The office sends you to court as the keeper of the record. You must testify about the completeness of the record. What are you going to say?

3.     There is an error in a health record that has been subpoenaed. This is a good-faith error and should be corrected. It has to do with the information the plaintiff is interested in and could be damaging to the defendant–physician if changed, but also damaging if unchanged. The physician asks you to blot out the error, write in the correct information and put the paper, with surrounding papers, through the copy machine. What do you do?

These resources are provided for additional information about select topics:

• HITECH Act:

Office for Civil Rights. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.). HITECH Act enforcement interim final rule. Retrieved from 33Thttps://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/HITECH-act-enforcement-interim-final-rule/

• Meaningful use:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meaningful use. Retrieved from 33Thttps://www.cdc.gov/ehrmeaningfuluse/introduction.html

• HIPAA:

Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.) HIPAA for professionals. Retrieved from 33Thttps://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html33T