Reference no: EM133713898

Homework: Protected Health Information

Prepare a 2 page interprofessional staff update on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care.

Introduction

Health care providers today must develop their skills in mitigating risks to their patients and themselves related to patient information. At the same time, they need to be able distinguish between effective and ineffective uses of social media in health care.

This homework will require you to develop a staff update for an interprofessional team to encourage team members to protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of patient information.

Professional Context

Health professionals today are increasingly accountable for the use of protected health information (PHI). Various government and regulatory agencies promote and support privacy and security through a variety of activities. Examples include:

1) Meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR).

2) Provision of EHR incentive programs through Medicare and Medicaid.

3) Enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules.

4) Release of educational resources and tools to help providers and hospitals address privacy, security, and confidentiality risks in their practices.

Technological advances, such as the use of social media platforms and applications for patient progress tracking and communication, have provided more access to health information and improved communication between care providers and patients.

At the same time, advances such as these have resulted in more risk for protecting PHI. Nurses typically receive annual training on protecting patient information in their everyday practice. This training usually emphasizes privacy, security, and confidentiality best practices such as:

1) Keeping passwords secure.
2) Logging out of public computers.
3) Sharing patient information only with those directly providing care or who have been granted permission to receive this information.

Today, one of the major risks associated with privacy and confidentiality of patient identity and data relates to social media. Many nurses and other health care providers place themselves at risk when they use social media or other electronic communication systems inappropriately. For example, a Texas nurse was recently terminated for posting patient vaccination information on Facebook. In another case, a New York nurse was terminated for posting an insensitive emergency department photo on her Instagram account.

Preparation

As you begin to consider the homework, it would be an excellent choice to complete the Breach of Protected Health Information (PHI) activity. The activity will support your success with the homework by creating the opportunity for you to test your knowledge of potential privacy, security, and confidentiality violations of protected health information. The activity is not graded and counts towards course engagement.

To successfully prepare to complete this homework, complete the following:

1) Review the settings presented in the Homework Supplement: Protected Health Information [PDF] resource and select one to use as the focus for this homework.

2) Review the infographics on protecting PHI provided in the resources for this homework, or find other infographics to review. These infographics serve as examples of how to succinctly summarize evidence-based information.

a) Analyze these infographics and distill them into five or six principles of what makes them effective. As you design your interprofessional staff update, apply these principles. Note: In a staff update, you will not have all the images and graphics that an infographic might contain. Instead, focus your analysis on what makes the messaging effective.

3) Select from any of the following options, or a combination of options, as the focus of your interprofessional staff update:

a) Social media best practices.
b) What not to do: social media.
c) Social media risks to patient information.
d) Steps to take if a breach occurs.

4) Conduct independent research on the topic you have selected in addition to reviewing the suggested resources for this homework. This information will serve as the source(s) of the information contained in your interprofessional staff update. Consult the BSN Program Library Research Guide for help in identifying scholarly and/or authoritative sources.

Scenario

In this homework, imagine you are a nurse in one of the health care settings described in the following resource:

1) Homework Supplement: Protected Health Information [PDF]

Before your shift begins, you scroll through Facebook and notice that a coworker has posted a photo of herself and a patient on Facebook and described how happy she is that her patient is making great progress. You have recently completed your annual continuing education requirements at work and realize this is a breach of your organization's social media policy. Your organization requires employees to immediately report such breaches to the privacy officer to ensure the post is removed immediately and that the nurse responsible receives appropriate corrective action.

You follow appropriate organizational protocols and report the breach to the privacy officer. The privacy officer takes swift action to remove the post. Due to the severity of the breach, the organization terminates the nurse.

Based on this incident's severity, your organization has established a task force with two main goals:

1) Educate staff on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care.
2) Prevent confidentiality, security, and privacy breaches.

The task force has been charged with creating a series of interprofessional staff updates on the following topics:

1) Social media best practices.
2) What not to do: Social media.
3) Social media risks to patient information.
4) Steps to take if a breach occurs.

Instructions

First, select one of the health care settings described in the following resource:

1) Homework 02 Supplement: Protected Health Information [PDF]

As a nurse in this setting, you are asked to create the content for a staff update containing a maximum of two content pages that address one or more of these topics:

1) Social media best practices.
2) What not to do: social media.
3) Social media risks to patient information.
4) Steps to take if a breach occurs.

This homework is not a traditional essay. It is a staff educational update about PHI. Consider creating a flyer, pamphlet, or one PowerPoint slide (not an entire presentation). Remember it should not be more than two pages (excluding a title and a reference page).

The task force has asked team members assigned to the topics to include the following content in their updates in addition to content on their selected topics:

1) What is protected health information (PHI)?

a) Be sure to include essential HIPAA information.

2) What are privacy, security, and confidentiality?

a) Define and provide examples of privacy, security, and confidentiality concerns related to the use of technology in health care.

b) Explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.

3) What evidence relating to social media usage and PHI do interprofessional team members need to be aware of? For example:

a) What are some examples of nurses being terminated for inappropriate social media use in the United States?

b) What types of sanctions have health care organizations imposed on interdisciplinary team members who have violated social media policies?

c) What have been the financial penalties assessed against health care organizations for inappropriate social media use?

d) What evidence-based strategies have health care organizations employed to prevent or reduce confidentiality, privacy, and security breaches, particularly related to social media usage?