AHA guidelines urge protection of privacy
January 1, 2002 2 minutes read
AHA guidelines urge protection of privacy
Much of the new American Hospital Association (AHA) guidelines on patient privacy are driven by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, which specifies the purposes for which information may and may not be released without authorization from the patient. The new guidelines make these major points:
• Inquiries must contain the patient’s name, unless the inquiry comes from clergy.
• You may release the patient’s one-word condition and location without obtaining prior patient authorization.
• The terms to describe a patient’s condition are undetermined, good, fair, serious, and critical.
• The patient’s location within the hospital (such as room number) can be included in the hospital directory to facilitate visits by friends and family and delivery of flowers and gifts, but the location within the hospital should not be given to the media.
• The patient must provide written authorization before the hospital can release a detailed statement or allow photographs or interviews with the patient.
• Patients can opt out of providing any information at all. This includes confirming or denying the patient’s presence in the facility.
• The health care provider should not release any information that could embarrass or endanger patients. This includes confirming that the patient has an infectious disease.
• The risk manager should exercise good judgment when the patient is unable to express a preference regarding the release of information.
• Celebrities, public officials, and any patient involved in a case that is a matter of public record are entitled to the same protection as any other patient. Even if a patient is involved in a crime, for instance, and information is available from the police as a public record, that does not change the hospital’s obligations to protect confidentiality.
• When feasible, notify the next-of-kin first.
• Don’t hesitate to cooperate with other hospitals or relief agencies.
• When appropriate, release general information to help dispel public anxiety. For example, you may say that the hospital is treating four adults injured in the explosion, and they are all adult males.
• Work effectively with the media and cooperate within the limits of these guidelines.
(For the entire text of the AHA guidelines, see the web site at www.aha.org/Emergency/ Readiness/MaGuideInfoPatientB1108.asp.)
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content