Question

Identify 3 differences between confidentiality and HIPAA

Answer 1

Ans) Privacy refers to the right of an individual to keep his or her health information private.
Confidentiality refers to the duty of anyone entrusted with health information to keep that information private.

- While the difference between privacy and confidentiality is rooted in law, confidentiality itself is rooted in ethics.

Confidentiality refers to protection of information shared with an attorney, therapist, physician (or other) from being shared with third parties without express consent. In the context of healthcare, confidentiality refers to information disclosed by a patient to a physician during dialogue in a medical visit.

Plainly said: a patient can trust his/her physician to not share personal information regarding her health, home, or lifestyle habits shared in candid conversation during a visit.

Privacy, on the other hand, refers to the legal protection of personal medical information from being shared on a public platform. Privacy legally protects patient records, prescriptions, and examinations from being shared or accessed by anyone other than his/her case physician.

Most health care providers follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a privacy rule that federally restricts personal health information from being disclosed as a public record.

- Privacy in Healthcare
While privacy keeps medical records legally bound from public release, it protects only so far as a patient can be identified. That is, many medical records are available to third parties (largely for research purposes), but those records cannot be tied to notes’ respective patient. If personal medical information that reveals patient identity reaches an unauthorized third party without patient consent, the patient has the right to take legal action.

Difference Between Privacy and Confidentiality in Healthcare (HIPAA vs Confidentiality)

Confidentiality in Healthcare
Confidentiality refers to an individual’s right to have personal, identifiable medical information kept private between patient and physician. That is, information divulged by a patient to a physician is kept private (excluding the transfer of information to relevant medical help; e.g. a pharmacist, who needs to fill a prescription, or a technician, who needs to take an x-ray).

- Patient confidentiality is an important component of personal respect for patients and essential criteria to encourage honest, transparent conversations between patient and physicians. Personal information revealed during doctor visits contributes significantly to the understanding of a patient’s case, ongoing health, and prognoses. Maintaining the integrity of patient confidentiality is imperative to encouraging patients to be completely honest about their health and any lifestyle outside of the practice.