Study Guide
1.
Catalysts
o
Most people require a certain amount of privacy. Everyone holds a certain information
about themselves to be personal and to be shared with only people whom they trust. This is the major cause of medical
privacy issue. Because doctors’ offices
and hospitals keep records on each of their clients, the issue becomes, who
has a right to access these records.
The widespread use of databases and other technology to maintain this
data has caused the medical privacy issue to blow up at an even greater
rate. Now, not only do insurance
companies and billing agencies have access to your medical records, but
hackers can now access them also.
o
How
private is your medical information?
o
Medical
Privacy Rules Give Patients and Marketers Access to Health Data
o
Do hackers
have access to your medical records?
o
How does technology
increase the concern for medical privacy?
2.
Laws
Medical laws have been put into place for patient privacy
protection. Under the Clinton
Administration, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 was administered. Since
then, there have been man amendments to the act, the most noteable being one
of Clinton’s last actions as president.
On Dec. 28, 2000, Clinton administered changes to the HIPAA of
1996. These changes gave
patients unprecedented rights to track their medical files. It implemented new criminal and civil
sactions for improper disclosure of medical records and it protects against
unauthorized use of medical records for employment purposes. Although this last act gave patients
unprecedented access and control of their medical records, some are not
satisfied.
o
Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
o
Debate over HIPAA
o
Does HIPAA give patients enough protection?
o
Other proposed
privacy protection acts
o
Are there any privacy concerns these proposals do not
take care of?
3.
Genetic Mapping
More than 40 U.S. states have laws requiring hospitals to
make available to insurance companies and researchers certain information about
each visit they receive. With
this information, hospital records can be obtained and all sorts of genetic
testing can be done. This
becomes extremely controversial because the laws are vague about what
constitutes a research group.
o
Concerns heightened by Genome Mapping
o
Guard your genetic
data from those prying eyes
o
What are the ethical implications of genome mapping?
4.
Technology
o
How are the new laws affecting technology?
o
What are the new laws imposing on technology
companies?
o
How can technology companies help protect patient’s privacy?
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