Week 5: Access and Specialized Patient Records
Access and Specialized Patient Records
You are the director of health information services in a major medical center that maintains both a psychiatric and substance abuse units in addition to general medical and surgical units. Your facility, under the direction of the CIO, plans to join a computer network with 15 hospitals throughout the state, which will allow online access to records, regardless of which facility they were generated. None of the other 15 facilities offers psychiatric or substance abuse treatment, and you have been asked to provide HIM analysis as the subject matter expert.
1. Identify access and confidentiality issues that may be present with such a network in the light of the statutory, regulatory, and accrediting requirements governing patients treated in these units.
2. What specific organizational recommendation(s) would you make to the CIO to ensure she has considered specialized records in her support of the network for all departments, including the HIM department?
3. Discuss psychotherapy notes as defined by HIPAA and how they are treated differently.
