HCM337-0704B-01 Current Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in H - Essay - 1

HCM337-0704B-01 Current Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in H - Phase 1 Discussion Board 2 - Essay Example This paper describes the different laws and regulation concerning treatment and handle of patient’s medical records. There are various agencies, regulation and laws from the governmental and private sector that protect the integrity and privacy of medical records. The HIPPA regulation is a statute that protects the medical information of patients. HIPPA establishes a minimum standard for care of medical information which requires covered entities to evaluate their practices and enhance safeguards as needed in hospital settings to limit unnecessary or inappropriate access to and disclosure of protected health information (Hss, 2003). An organization that protects and regulates the handle of medical records of patients is AHIMA. The AHIMA is non-profit organization founded in 1928 dedicated to helping protect the health care information of people by provided professionals in the field with guidelines on how to realize the critical function of protecting medical record information (Myphr, 2007). Health care facilities provide patients with a document called the Noticy of Privacy Practice. This document tells the patient in how the medical record information of the patient will be utilized by the health care facility (Myphr, 2007). Patient’s right to have access to their medical records is protected by the Access to Medical Reports Act of 1988 (AMRA). The AMRA gives the right to the patient of obtaining their medical record for employment and insurance purposes. The person applying for the medical record must signed off a consent form before the information is released according to AMRA (Legalandgeneral, 2007). The Civil Rights and Liberty Union is an organization that is a supporter of medical rights privacy. The organization is a supporter, protector and representative voice of citizens which fight on a political level in congress to protect the privacy of medical records of US citizens