Protected Health Information Case Study

According to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), in its Title II establishes policies, procedures and guidelines for maintaining the privacy of patient health information named Protected Health Information (PHI). PHI is the patient information kept by a facility such as, physical or mental health status, provision of health care or payment for health care. For disclosing this information should be through written authorization from the patient and it must be done within 30 days upon request or when it is required by law. The electronic age has also affected medicine, for instance, we can transmit and make portable the patient’s medical records. For all of this, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services required that electronic health care transactions, code sets and security are set nationwide.

In my opinion, the nurse’s action was improper, because it was imprudent, unethical and illegal, since it was against of the privacy of the patient information.

First, the nurse could only review the patient information in her work station and during her shift, and she was not in her work unit neither she was working at this time, she was on break. Therefore, this action is not ethical, since it was not in accordance with accepted hospital rules or standards. In other words, it is a

She was not careful with the patient information. Somebody realized what she was doing and asked her about that, and the explanation was not satisfactory for me. This situation could be even reported to the Boards of Nursing (BON) and after any complaint, the BON is responsible for the investigation of the report and taking any disciplinary action against the nurse; that could be from a reprimand or sanction, fines, until a temporary or permanent loss of her licensure if the result were that she used inappropriately the hospital electronic medical records