California Supreme Court Clarifies Long Term Care Act’s Application to Release of Confidential Information
The California Supreme Court has clarified the application of the Long-Term Care Act’s disclosure requirements in consideration of Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328’s general prohibition against the release of information contained in the course of providing treatment to mentally ill and developmentally disabled individuals.
In State Dept. of Public Health v. Superior Court (2015) 60 Cal.4th 940, the Supreme Court considered the issue of whether the disclosure requirements of the Long-Term Care Act (LTCA) or Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328 applied where a public records request was made for health records. The case involved the Center for Investigative Reporting, a news organization investigating the treatment of mentally ill and developmentally disabled in state owned health care facilities, which issued a public records request to the Department of Public Health (DPH) for copies of all citations issued to the facilities it was investigating.
Under the LTCA, detailed requirements regarding the contents of citations issued by the DPH are outlined, including the fact that such citations are public records. The LTCA
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Where a public records request is made for citations, the specific, narrowly tailored rules regarding the redaction of those records under the LTCA will apply over a more general confidentiality provision. Confusion and incorrect application of the law can easily occur where, as here, one law trumps another under specific facts. It is important that care facilities obtain experienced and knowledgeable legal counsel to ensure it complies with all legal
inally, Title VII provides support for programs to ensure protection of the rights of older adults, including the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program and elder abuse prevention services. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is required to investigate and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of nursing facility residents or other institutionalized populations. Title VII funds are allocated based on the state’s proportion of residents age 60 and
Form Locator 14 - date of current illness, injury, pregnancy Form Locator 15 - if patient has had same or similar illness Form locator 16 - dates patient unable to work in current occupation Form Locator 17 - name of referring physician
The breach I found was from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee on October 2, 2009. This case was the largest breach incident as of October 2009 under the HITECH breach notification rule. The breach affected more than 1 million individuals. HIPAA privacy and security rules were breached. Security evaluations and physical safeguards are required under the HIPAA security rule.
These breaches and failure to comply with the rules can be detrimental to the healthcare organization and most importantly the patients. The Privacy Rule applies to “covered entities” which generally includes health plans and health care providers who transmit health information. Covered entities include almost all health and mental health care providers (NYS, n.d). Therefore, whether the healthcare organization is inpatient, outpatient, residential provider or
is a privately run home healthcare agency. Our company is operating in several locations in ten states, to date with over 40 agencies. We take confidentiality very seriously throughout all the departments of the company, making sure that the staff is aware of the policies and procedures that are put in place for assurance of our patients’ privacy. As I stated in my previous homework assignment, there are several departments within AngMar that handle different aspects of the healthcare process having the possibility of seeing patient information and there are compliance procedures set in place that are mandated by the company and the state in order to prevent any employees from sharing anyone’s private information. We work closely with Medicare and Medicaid in order to serve our patients, who are usually under a physician’s plan of care and need skilled nurses to assist them in their home (About Us, n.d.).
Prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), few people anticipated employer-provided health care would disappear as a major player in the United State healthcare arena. However, ACA adoption and has put more than 169 million employees at risk for losing their workplace coverage. Several studies indicate employer-based coverage will decline rapidly over the next decade as the traditional US system is displaced by the healthcare exchange system. While consumers grapple with finding affordable coverage options and providers adjust to the new norms, there is another wrinkle in the mix. In January, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced the agency's push toward value-based and alternative reimbursement models.
Healthcare providers and organizations are obligated and bound to protect patient confidentiality by laws and regulations. Patient information may only be disclosed to those directly involved in the patient’s care or those the patient identifies as able to receive the information. The HIPAA Act of 1996 is the federal law mandating healthcare organizations and clinicians to safeguard patient’s medical information. This law corresponds with the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act to include security standards for protecting electronic health information. The healthcare organization is legally responsible for establishing procedures to prevent data
All patients need to understand the lack of full disclosure may negatively cause an untoward event possibly even life
Management of Care Case Study Josepha is working on a medical surgical unit with three other RNs and one LPN. There is also a male and a female patient care tech. Josepha has been a nurse for four months, and after completing two months of orientation she takes a full assignment as a registered nurse. Josepha feels that the assignments she receives are not always fair, as she tends to get the most challenging clients.
The Baker Act The Florida Mental Health Act, also known as ‘Baker Act’ was enacted in 1971. The Baker act oversees mental health services including voluntary and involuntary admissions (Florida Supreme Court, 2018 ). The purpose of this legislature is “to protect the rights and liberty interests of citizens with mental illnesses and ensure public safety” (Florida Supreme Court, n.d). According to Mr. Baker, the founder of the act, the original intent was to encourage voluntary commitments, distinguish differences between hospitalization and legal incompetency, and community health care among individuals with mental illnesses (Florida Supreme Court, n.d). The involuntary admissions criterion for the Baker acts allows any inpatient treatment facility to hold someone in custody up to 72 hours for
This act is in place so that every individual has the right to see their own health records anytime they like. This act links in closely with The Data Protection Act 1998, this is because they follow the same confidentiality principals. A person has the right to privacy so only the appropriate people may have access to health records. If a decision is to be made about a patient then the patient must agree to this or if they are not of sound mind then a next of kin would need to make that decision for the patient. Under this act the Doctor has the right to see the patient’s records, any other person must have the consent of the patient to see these records.
This is called protected health information or PHI. Information meets the definition of PHI if, even without the patient’s name, if you look at certain information and you can tell who the person is then it is PHI. The PHI can relate to past, present or future physical or mental health of the individual. PHI describes a disease, diagnosis, procedure, prognosis, or condition of the individual and can exist in any medium files, voice mail, email, fax, or verbal communications. defines information as protected health information if it contains the following information about the patient, the patient’s household members, or the patient’s employers, Names, Dates relating to a patient, i.e. birth dates, dates of medical treatment, admission and discharge dates, and dates of death, Telephone numbers, addresses (including city, county, or zip code) fax numbers and other contact information, Social Security numbers, Medical records numbers, Photographs, Finger and voice prints, Any other unique identifying
As records were shared electronically rules were implemented for clinicians to follow known as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule ,2013). These rules were implemented for clinicians to protect the
Adopted August 21, 2002 Effective June 1, 2003). This is helpful, but it is not as specific as the code in the NAADAC l-11. Also in the NAADAC l-11, it went as far specifically to state “When extending these boundaries, Providers take appropriate professional precautions such as informed consent, consultation, supervision, and documentation to ensure that their judgment is not impaired and no harm occurs” (NAADAC: The Association for Addiction Professionals NCC AP: The
ARTICLE #9 Legal Concerns Regarding Medical Record Alteration: The Proof is in the Metadata From Coverys Risk Management (Timothy Malec, Manager, Claims) With the advent of new technological systems and the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, electronic medical records have been widely adopted by many healthcare organizations. While there are many benefits to electronic medical records, such as better access to patient data and improved preventive health, there are also issues that arise due to the application of this technology. Particularly when it comes to medical malpractice litigation, problems emerge when healthcare providers don’t understand the implications of their actions, like accessing and changing