Question

You are the manager of a clinic within a large hospital system. You just received a phone call from someone in the food services department, saying they received several pages of a patient’s lab work and physician’s notes on their fax machine. The cover sheet indicated the documents originated from your clinic.

In 250-300 words, explain how you should approach handling this situation with your staff. Include mention of the laws that apply to this situation, as well.

Answer 1

HIPAA privacy rules protect and keep the confidentiality of personal health information. immediate action should be done, as a manager respond to the possible breaches and stop the breaches immediately. Terminate the improper access to personal health information and find out how it improperly disclosed and accidentally dispatched and document the action. immediately notify the privacy officer before everyone becomes aware of the breach. if any accidental disclosure of PHI occurred privacy officer should determine what action should be taken to mitigate the mistake and reduce the potential harm. this incident to be investigated immediately how the fax is sent to an incorrect recipient. it need a risk assessment and a report of the breach need to be sent to the department of health and human service office for civil rights(OCR). As a manager, you are responsible for the explanation in which patient records and reports are breached and viewed. if you failure to report this breach incident it cause major harm and there will be disciplinary action and potentially penalties for the action. HIPAA rules set standards for health care providers and other covered entities should follow the law in order to reduce the chance of patient data being exposed and breached.