SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Declan has just started a job as a nursing assistant in a radiology department at Woodland Hospital.
He has also started a program to become a registered nurse.
Before taking this career path, Declan was vaguely familiar with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). He now knows that he must help ensure the security of his patients’ Protected Health Information (PHI). Therefore, he is thinking carefully about privacy issues.
On the morning of his first day, Declan noticed that the newly hired receptionist handed each patient a HIPAA privacy notice. He wondered if it was necessary to give these privacy notices to returning patients, and if the radiology department could reduce paper waste through a system of one-time distribution.
He was also curious about the hospital’s use of a billing company. He Questioned whether the hospital was doing all it could to protect the privacy of its patients if the billing company had details about patients’ care.
On his first day Declan became familiar with all areas of the hospital’s large radiology department. As he was organizing equipment left in the halfway, he overheard a conversation between two hospital administrators. He was surprised to hear that a portable hard drive containing non-encrypted patient information was missing. The administrators expressed relief that the hospital would be able to avoid liability. Declan was surprised, and wondered whether the hospital had plans to properly report what had happened.
Despite Declan’s concern about this issue, he was amazed by the hospital’s effort to integrate Electronic Health Records (EHRs) into the everyday care of patients. He thought about the potential for streamlining care even more if they were accessible to all medical facilities nationwide.
Declan had many positive interactions with patients. At the end of his first day, he spoke to one patient, John, whose father had just been diagnosed with a degenerative muscular disease. John was about to get blood work done, and he feared that the blood work could reveal a genetic predisposition to the disease that could affect his ability to obtain insurance coverage. Declan told
John that he did not think that was possible, but the patient was wheeled away before he could explain why. John plans to ask a colleague about this.
In one month, Declan has a paper due for one his classes on a health topic of his choice. By then, he will have had many interactions with patients he can use as examples. He will be pleased to give credit to John by name for inspiring him to think more carefully about genetic testing.
Although Declan’s day ended with many questions, he was pleased about his new position.
How can the radiology department address Declan’s concern about paper waste and still comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?
A. State the privacy policy to the patient verbally
B. Post the privacy notice in a prominent location instead
C. Direct patients to the correct area of the hospital website
D. Confirm that patients are given the privacy notice on their first visit
Explanation:
It is important for test takers to not add additional information to the prompt by assuming information. By choosing D, you are assuming that Declan will stay long enough in the position that he will personally see to it that every first time patient receives a privacy notice. By choosing C, you are answering the exact question by addressing the paper waste concern and complying with HIPAA which allows covered entities to post privacy notices on websites. Model Notices of Privacy Practices on the HHS website outlines two requirements: A covered entity must make its notice available to any person who asks for it (satisfies pointing the person in the direction of the covered entity website); A covered entity must prominently post and make available its notice on any web site it maintains that provides information about its customer services or benefits (satisfies pointing the person to the covered entity website to view privacy notice).
