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We Can But Dare We?

Mercy Kuruvilla

Chamberlain University

NR 360 - Information Systems in Healthcare

Andrea Robertson

January 23, 2022

We Can But Dare We?

Introduction

In today’s society, we have reached a point in time when COVID-19 has become

somewhat of a normal that we have grown accustomed to. We are used to seeing news channels

reporting about statistics, number of the death toll, and the growing concern of health care

facilities and the space that they have. But how does this all align together; how do we take

things that happen within the hospital and turn it into numbers that we can then put into graphs

and visuals to let the public. This comes from a field called Informatics. “Public health

surveillance has benefited from, and has often pioneered, informatics analyses and solutions ... It

is an interdisciplinary profession that applies mathematics, engineering, information science, and

related social sciences” (Savel & Foldy, 2012). The field of “informatics is the process by which

raw data turn into digestible information and, subsequently, knowledge... Informatics collect data

and translate them into a language practitioners can understand, so they make data driven

decisions to improve public health”(Public Health Informatics Institute, 2021). Informatics helps

by taking the information we have and turning it into words that the public can understand. With

this type of power, almost everything could be translated for the public, but this brought up a lot

of ethical questions which needed answering. What information could be given without the

patient’s identity being placed out there, how would they convey the information, who would

they convey it, and so forth. This brings us to HIPAA – a law that still is used to this day to help

us answer those questions.

HIPAA, Legal, and Regulatory Discussion

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal

law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information
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from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge” (Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention [CDC], 2018). With HIPAA, we have a set of rules that allows us to know what

we can do with information, what we can’t do with some information, who is allowed to know

certain information. This allows patient the freedom and privacy that they deserve as an

individual.

Another law that is noteworthy is the Privacy Act of 1974, “The Privacy Act of 1974

regulates information collected by the federal government and its agencies. The legislation

allows citizens to know what information is collected about them, assure the veracity of that data

and obtain copies of the information” (USF Health, 2021). This law is similar to HIPAA except

now this deals with the patient itself; they are allowed to know what information is being taken

from them, they have the ability to refuse the information to be taken, and either way – they can

request to have their information given to them; for personal use or if they wish to transfer the

information to another facility.

Scenario Ending and Recommendations

With everything being said, option 1: A HIPAA violation occurs, and a client’s data is

exposed to the media. This pertains a lot to the information presented at this time. Breaking a

HIPAA rules is a steep price to pay and in this scenario a lot of stuff already happened, and not a

lot can be done to rectify the situation. When the violation occurs and the data is exposed to the

media, as an employee there is not much you could do. Like the simple saying, “Once it’s out

there, it’s out there.” The best way to handle the situation is to contact the media that the

information was given and see if the information can be taken down – an example of this would

be, “A group of resident doctors took pictures during operations. The pictures showcased body

parts removed from patients and posted the images online. Authorization was not obtained...”
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(Clark, 2021). In this situation – taking down the pictures and alerting the patient would be the

right way to go. Likewise, any news outlet and any social media platforms can be contacted to

erase all forms of the information that was exposed. Also, the next step is to inform the patient of

what has happened – it is in the best interest to alert the patient before they find out on their own;

chances are they will be a bit more forgiving, but that is in the best case scenario.

At this point, as an employer, preparation of an inquiry or the judgement of termination

would be something that would need to be faced. If the patient decides that they did not want that

information sent out to the public, criminal charges such as fines and imprisonment can be

warranted against you. (HIPAA Journal, 2021)

Advantages and Disadvantages

Technology in today’s world is everywhere; we have technology within the grips of our

palms. But with all this power, comes responsibilities. Especially within the Health Care field;

technology helps while also is a tricky subject to navigate. One advantage of technology

Electronic Health Records or known as EHRs. EHRs are replacing handwritten patient reports

which is beneficial to not only the patient but to the workers as well (AIMS Education, 2019).

Back then, hand-writing patient’s charts would take up time and effort away from the patient in

order to make sure everything was written. But now, EHRs are quick and efficient to take down

information from the patient and store it relatively easy. The second advantage of technology is

the ease of access that patients have to retrieve their information from medical directories and

such (AIMS Education, 2019). Back then, requesting for information would take days or weeks

in order to retrieve, but now patients can now even access their own health records and download

it and print it without even speaking to a medical officer. Third advantage is the ability to do

everything remotely; with COVID-19 we had to take almost everything online, and it showed us
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the endless possibilities we have with technology such as telehealth (AIMS Education, 2019).

Patients were able to have appointments online, able to fill out forms electronically, and fill out

prescriptions without ever leaving their house. With this new-found possibility, health care will

never be the same – as patients will opt to have more options to be at home rather than coming to

the hospital for everything.

Disadvantages of technology in healthcare include “Cybersecurity risks, impersonal

patient-doctor interaction, patient isolation, and frustration with poor implementation”

(Galendata, 2021). With cybersecurity – anything with technology can be hacked, information

can be leaked, and patient’s confidentiality breached (Galendata, 2021). Impersonal patient-

doctor interaction comes from the fact that providers might only interact with the technology

rather than talking with the patient (Galendata, 2021). This is why in Nursing School we are

taught to talk to the patient, how to face the patient and how to take notes quickly, so we don’t

lose the patient’s interest when they are speaking to us. And last, frustration with technology is

something that we all go through once in our lifetime – technology snags; there are kinks, and

sometimes we spend more time trying to fix things rather than having a well put system that

actually works (Galendata, 2021).

Conclusion and Reflections

Overall, technology has opened many doors and opportunities for public health relations.

It has changed our lives over the course of years, especially recently. Technology helps us with

so many things such as giving the public easy access to their health care and being in more

control of their information. But with all the new possibilities – comes a lot of ethical problems

and dilemmas that with time solutions have to be found in order to support patients and keep

their privacy and identity protected at all times.

References

AIMS Education. (2019, June 2). The impact of technology in healthcare. Retrieved January 23,

2022, from https://aimseducation.edu/blog/the-impact-of-technology-on-healthcare

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, September 14). Health insurance portability

and accountability act of 1996 (hipaa) | cdc. Centers for disease control and prevention.

Retrieved January 23, 2022, from

https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/hipaa.html

Clark, M. (2021, August 10). 15+ real-world examples of social media hipaa violations —

etactics. Etactics | Revenue Cycle Software. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from

https://etactics.com/blog/social-media-hipaa-violations

Galendata. (2021, July 27). The disadvantages of technology in healthcare - galen data. Galen

Data. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.galendata.com/disadvantages-of-

technology-in-healthcare/

HIPAA Journal. (2021, November 3). What happens if you break hipaa rules? Retrieved January

23, 2022, from https://www.hipaajournal.com/what-happens-if-you-break-hipaa-rules/

Public Health Informatics Institute. (2021). Defining public health informatics - phii. Public

health informatics institute. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://phii.org/how-we-do-

it/defining-public-health-informatics/

Savel, T. G., & Foldy, S. (2012, July 27). The role of public health informatics in enhancing

public health surveillance. Centers for disease control and prevention. Retrieved January

23, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6103a5.htm

USF Health. (2021, November 16). Important laws and regulations in health informatics | usf

health online. USF Health Online. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from
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https://www.usfhealthonline.com/resources/health-informatics/important-laws-and-

regulations-in-health-informatics/