Individual patient records have been used for centuries, with some of the first comprehensive case records being maintained in the early 1800s (Seigler, 2010). However, medical records were not always employed as they are now. Early medical records were used less to maintain continuity of care or reduce medication errors, and more for instructive purposes, such as teaching medical students (Seigler, 2010). Whereas medical records were relatively arbitrary until recently, lacking formal standards or methods of recording, medical recordkeeping is now much more standardized (“Medical Records: A Brief History,” n.d.). Medical records evolved over the centuries to be more patient-centered, less about doctor perceptions of their work and more about how to improve quality of care for patients. Because medical records contain sensitive personal information about health history, privacy issues abound. One of the most important considerations with safeguarding medical records is with regards to employment discrimination. Another consideration is how insurance companies can leverage medical records to excuse denial of coverage. At the same time, medical records live up to their potential when they are readily accessible and available to healthcare practitioners and emergency services workers (Barrows & Clayton, 1996). Balancing the interests of medical care quality with privacy remains...
Instead of outsourcing medical records keeping to unreliable third parties, healthcare institutions can and should rely on accredited agencies for developing effective encryption methods and ensuring data security. Unfortunately, there has yet to be a standardized system of medical records keeping. The 1996 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) does help promote higher standards and accreditation with regards to electronic health records. Yet especially given the trend towards population mobility, maintaining standards of medical records across various geographic regions and even across international borders remains a main concern. HIPPA also ensures standards of privacy but “a good deal of medical information falls outside the protection of this law,” (Hasson, n.d., p. 1). Some types of medical records may be available to insurance companies. While insurance companies do not have access to medical records legally, there are situations in which patients may unwittingly allow disclosure of their medical records. For example, “insurers may access individual doctors' files for underwriting purposes,” and…References
Barrows, R.C. & Clayton, P.D. (1996). Privacy, confidentiality, and electronic medical records. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 3(2): 139-148.
Hasson, J. (n.d.). How private is your medical info? AARP. https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/health/info-2017/how-private-is-medical-information.html
“Medical Records: A Brief History,” (n.d.). https://medicalcodingdegree.org/medical-records-history/
Seigler, E.L. (2010). The evolving medical record. Annals of Internal Medicine 153(10): 671-677.
The issue of misplaced or lost patient files is also gotten rid of. These advantages aid in producing a marked rise in the health connected security of patients and the welfare of patients (Ayers, 2009). Furthermore, electronic medical records and patient care are identical in that such systems effortlessly permit restrictions to be placed upon end users' admission to specific information of the patient. This personal security feature is
Advances in Digital Medical Imaging Origin In the past few decades advances in healthcare have emerged, as new forms of technological integration are implemented as part of the overall healthcare management system. Healthcare providers, doctors and patients require more technological integration into the system providing real time data analysis and the possibility of enhancing medical knowledge. Sharing that knowledge can lead to what many describe as "digital medicine" where stored clinical data
However, because they make billing more efficient, the majority of large urban practice groups and hospitals have already made the switch to electronic records, according to Michael R. Costa, attorney and associate at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, in Boston, Mass. However, he adds, most of these organizations maintain warehouses where they store paper records that have been transcribed to electronic form. "There is resistance from some about going to a
Innovation at Baystate Health Informatics and Technology Innovations at Baystate Health Baystate Health is among the largest health systems in New England and the largest employer in Western Massachusetts ("About Baystate Health," 2014). The crown jewel is the Baystate Medical Center (BMC), which represents the only level 1 trauma center for the region and the western campus for Tufts University School of Medicine. Each year, close to 2,000 residents, fellows, medical
The Issue of Medication NonadherenceIntroductionThe article by Gliadkovskaya (2023) highlights the limitations of the current healthcare system in effectively tracking medication adherence, a shortcoming that the CEO of Assure Health, Jeffrey Nadel, describes as "flying blind" when it comes to making sure patients are doing what they are supposed to be doing (Gliadkovskaya, 2023). However, the emergence of Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM), which is a mechanism that uses medical devices
Clinical Activity: Maintaining Alignment to Legal Changes Policy and Procedures on Information System My organization's priorities are maintaining the confidentiality of patients and also protecting the organization as a whole from any security impingements. All information is password-protected with strong passwords requiring six characters or more, at least one capital letter and one lower case letter, a number and a symbol of some kind. Passwords are also regularly changed. There is also
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