Ethics Of Medical Office Administration

Socrates was a man of many questions; seeking answers to better his self and society. Socrates strongly believed in living the best life possible life and encouraged his students to do the same. Socrates believed in three ideas: living right, never doing wrong and keeping agreements. Medical office personnel have an enormous ethical responsibility to the patients they work with, the facility they work in, and to themselves. A medical office administrator’s duties include interacting with patients, answering phones, scheduling appointments, organizing and updating medical records, process insurance forms and bookkeeping. By following Socrates ideas one can full fill their obligations fully and for the maximum benefit of the patient. Living right,

D.A., 2010). The goal is to be respectful, approachable, and courteous so that you can build and maintain relationships with the facility’s patients and coworkers while enabling the facility to perform at its maximum ability. Medical office staff is typically the first to greet patients, therefor it is important to maintain a professional and approachable persona via your attire and language. Not only does your professional persona represent you as an individual, it sets the tone for the facility and the expectations of the patient. Always address those in the room with a pleasant, respectful, and kind tone of voice. Greet each patient when they enter the facility, formally address patients and coworkers, and practice small courtesies or graces: holding open facility and elevator doors, help carry bulky or cumbersome items, share your umbrella, say “please” and “thank you”, and smile(Hills, L. D.A., 2010).. Proper etiquette also means arriving to work on time, practicing good telephone

The Greek philosopher Socrates’ virtue ethics emphasizes acquiring good traits and character (Littleton, V., 2010); something all medical office administrators as well as physicians, nurses, and aids should strive for as well. One of the first codes of ethics is known as the Hippocratic Oath. Today, different organizations and associations such as The American Medical Association, as well as individual facilities have a code of ethics they follow inspired by the Hippocratic Oath. There are seven universal principles or values in health care ethics: autonomy or self-determination, beneficence, nonmaleficence, confidentiality, justice, role fidelity, veracity (Judson & Harrison, 2016). Autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions based on the needs of the patient, your own reasoning skills, and your duty; accountability. Accountability is important in the daily tasks of office personnel such as updating patient charts, scheduling appoints, coding and billing for services rendered and seen. Beneficence is one of the basic medical ethical values which recognizes that there is a general obligation to protect individuals from harm and to ensure their welfare (Littleton, V., 2010); this is especially important considering medical office administrators handle sensitive patient information. Failing to keep protected