American Well: Decision-Making & Impact American Well is a major producer of telehealth technology in the health care industry. The company is faced with several ethical and regulatory issues that impact the decisions made in the organization. Ethical issues in telehealth pertains to the demand of American Well to develop products that improve health care quality and are acceptable to all stakeholders in health care. Regulatory issues in telehealth include concerns of the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). This paper will discuss the business decisions that need to be made in regards to regulatory and ethical issues of American Well and how the decisions impact the culture and stakeholders of the organization. In …show more content…
Stakeholders in health care include health care organizations, physicians, insurers, employers, consumers, and policymakers. The complexity of health care itself makes balancing the needs of all stakeholders and compliance with health care law a challenge for American Well. Ethical issues in telehealth include concerns of health care quality and buy-in from physicians and policymakers. American Well must use the ethical decision making process to ensure compliance with health care law while also developing products that physicians are willing to utilize and policy-makers are willing to support. Ethical reasoning, ethical principles and decision making are valuable tools that will assist American Well in aligning decisions with changes in health care …show more content…
American Well should consider the ethical principles of utilitarianism, universalism, rights, justice, and ethical virtues as a decision making framework that will filter through the ethical dilemmas of the complex health care delivery system. Each ethical principle can be used by American Well as guidelines to decision making regarding the development of telehealth products. For example, utilitarianism concludes that actions are right if they are useful and beneficial to the majority and if benefits over cost are greatest for all affected (Weiss, 2014, p. 2-2). American Well prides itself as being the leader in the development of a virtual health care delivery system that can be access by all stakeholders in health care. The Exchange is the first virtual health care delivery system alternative of its kind. Changes in health care laws have positively increased the demand for health care services in addition to the growing number of the elderly population. American Well is faced with remaining in compliance with health care law and the development of a health care product that can meet or exceed the perimeters of the law while also meeting the demand of consumers, policy makers, and physicians. In the end, the use of the principle of utilitarianism will assist American Well in determining the interest of internal stakeholders to
...). Privacy and Health Information Technology. Journal of Law Medicine, 37(2), 121-149. Retrieved January 28, 2011 from CINAHL database
As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
These types of external influences keep the healthcare organization afloat and maintained for patient care. The staff such as assistants, nurses, physicians, specialists, clinicians, and managers, states their opinions for improvement and make proper judgement for patient care. Lastly, patients are a prime influence and critic of healthcare of negative aspects or positive aspects of doctor care and treatment. Conflicts of staff shortages, incorrect coding/ billing, incompetent staff, and lack of knowledge of ethics are always an issue to improve. As long ethical procedures are in effect at all times with OSHA, ACA, HIPAA, JCAHO, etc., then the healthcare facility is in good order. The Affordable Care Act is a law for all staff and managers to stay informed and know how the changes apply to patients. For future healthcare administrators and staff, it’s critical to recognize the external influences in healthcare administration and maintain ethical technology standards, code standards, hiring standards, staff capability, and law
Slosar, J. P. (2004). Ethical decisions in health care. Health Progress. pp. 38-43. Retrieved from http://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/january-february-2004/ethical-decisions-in-health-care
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
Prinz, L., Cramer, M. & Englund, A. (2008). Telehealth: A policy analysis for quality, impact on
HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was put in place by the Federal Government for several reasons; better portability of health insurance for employees, to prevent fraud and abuse within the healthcare delivery system, and simplification of administrative functions associated with healthcare delivery (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Due to sensitive healthcare information being shared federal regulations were also put into place, resulting in the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule”. The Privacy Rule limits the use and disclosure of patient information. The Security Rule protects the patients’ healthcare information from improper use or disclosure, to maintain information integrity, and ensure its availability (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). Both regulations apply to protected health information (PHI) which is any form of health information that can be used to identify an individual patient. Practitioners who refer to HIPPA are not referring to the act itself but the “Privacy Rule” and “Security Rule” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). It is extremely important to understand these concepts as a student in the clinical setting and how each hospital enforces these concepts. Before starting at any clinical site there is an extensive orientation about HIPPA regarding what is appropriate and not appropriate when it comes to patient information and the repercussions of violating HIPPA. In this paper I will discuss Akron General’s rules and policies regarding their EHR, PHI, EPHI, and social media.
Providing the steps to ethically sound excellent care, healthcare providers must acknowledge first the legal and ethical matters involved with proper investigation and then devise a plan for best possible action recognizing the rights of the patient and its benefits followed by the application of the chosen intervention with positive outcome in mind (Wells, 2007). Delivery of excellent and quality of care at a constant level (NMC, 2008) must be marked in any responsibilities and duties of the care provider to promote exceptional nursing practice. Codes of nursing ethics and legal legislation have addressed almost all the necessary actions in making decisions in consideration to the best interest of the patient. Nurses must make sure that they are all guided by the set standard to lead their action and produce desirable and ethically sound outcomes.
The medical Profession recognizes that patients have a number of basic rights. These include but are not limited to the following: the right to reasonable response to his or her requests and need and needs for treatment within the hospital's capacity. The right to considerate, respectful care focused on the patient's individual needs. The right of the patient to make health care decisions, including the right to refuse treatment. The right to formulate advance directives. The right to be provided with information regarding treatment that enables the patient to make treatment decisions that reflect his or her wishes. The right to be provided upon admission to a health care facility with information about the health care provider's policies regarding advance directives, patient rights, and patient complaints. The right to participate in ethical decision making that may arise in the course of treatment. The right to be notified of any medical research or educational projects that may affect the patient's care. The right to privacy and confid...
In conclusion, technology has changed the world, as we knew it. Positive and negative come with change. The goal of the ACA, HIPPA, and EHRs is achieve positive patient outcomes, while protecting the integrity, trust and confidentiality, and decreasing health care cost. Privacy is a fundamental right of a patient, and nurses are expected to maintain confidentiality (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A breach in confidentiality will result in lack of trust between nurse and patients. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to ensure my patients privacy, and to provide nursing care that is patient centered, not technology centered.
Improving health is in the best interest of everyone, including non-health professionals. Health managers need to be constantly looking for ways to improve access to health care, the quality of the care, and cost containment. Often, the biggest barriers to accessing healthcare are cost and location. Lower income individuals just do not have the resources to have optimal healthcare, or cannot take the time away from employment to deal with health issues. One potential solution to help with these problems could be “telehealth.”
Healthcare professionals want only to provide the best care and comfort for their patients. In today’s world, advances in healthcare and medicine have made their task of doing so much easier, allowing previously lethal diseases to be diagnosed and treated with proficiency and speed. A majority of people in the United States have health insurance and enjoy the luxury of convenient, easy to access health care services, with annual checkups, preventative care, and their own personal doctor ready to diagnose and provide treatment for even the most trivial of symptoms. Many of these people could not imagine living a day without the assurance that, when needed, medical care would not be available to themselves and their loved ones. However, millions of American citizens currently live under these unimaginable conditions, going day to day without the security of frequent checkups, prescription medicine, or preventative medicines that could prevent future complications in their health. Now with the rising unemployment rates due to the current global recession, even more Americans are becoming uninsured, and the flaws in the United States’ current healthcare system are being exposed. In order to amend these flaws, some are looking to make small changes to fix the current healthcare system, while others look to make sweeping changes and remodel the system completely, favoring a more socialized, universal type of healthcare system. Although it is certain that change is needed, universal healthcare is not the miracle cure that will solve the systems current ailments. Universal healthcare should not be allowed to take form in America as it is a menace to the capitalist principle of a free market, threatens to put a stranglehold on for-...
Medtronic responds to regulations and directives from external stake holders such as governmental bodies by being proactive towards federal government regulations and by internal record monitoring. Medtronic does not leave anything to chance and as a company, likes to stay ahead of governmental regulations. The federal government has announced that medical device companies will soon have to disclose any transfer of value between the company and external customers. Transfer of value is seen as anything that can persuade a physician or customer to use the medical device company’s product over a competitor’s product due to personal gain. Before the federal government announced that medical device companies would have to provide transparency documentation between the company and customers. Medtronic took action and developed and implemented transparency practices in all aspects of customer relations. Now every time a surgeon or external customer is approached for a consultation, the meeting must be recorded and every possible form of transfer of value must be documented and recorded. In the world of Medtronic transparency, anything from lunch provided to a customer to a pen with the company’s logo is considered transfer of value and must be
In today’s healthcare system, there are many characteristics and forces that make up the complex structure. Health care delivery is a complex system that involves many people that navigate it with hopes of a better outcome to the residents of the United States. Many factors affect the system starting from global influences, social values and culture. Further factors include economic conditions, physical environment, technology development, economic conditions, political climate and population characteristics. Furthermore the main characteristics of the Unites States healthcare system includes: no agency governs the whole system, access to healthcare is restricted based on the coverage and third party agencies exist. Unfortunately many people are in power of the healthcare system involving multiple payers. Physicians are pressured to order unnecessary tests to avoid potential legal risks. Quality of care is a major component; therefore it creates a demand for new technology. A more close investigation will review two main characteristics and two external forces that currently affect the healthcare delivery system. Furthermore, what will be the impact of one of the characteristics and one of the external forces in review with the new affordable care act 2010? The review will demonstrate the implications to the healthcare delivery system and the impact on the affordable care act 2010.
Tarzian, A. J., & Force, A. C. C. U. T. (2013). Health care ethics consultation: An update on core competencies and emerging standards from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ Core Competencies Update Task Force. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(2),