Med Law & Bioethics HS101
Unit Four Assignment,
Zidlicky, Dawn

A patient has just left the office after having an outpatient surgery procedure. As you get ready to put away the patient’s file, you realize that the patient has forgotten to take his prescriptions and after-care instruction sheets home with him. It is vital for proper healing and recovery for the patient to have these documents. You know you will have to contact this patient so you look inside for his contact information and signed HIPAA Release of Information form. • Under HIPAA, are you legally allowed to view this patient’s medical information? Why or why not?
Under HIPAA, you are not allowed to view this Patient’s Medical information. As I read in unit four reading even though a medical assistant does have access to the patient’s records you do not automatically have permission to get into their records. Not even if it is just for a phone number to contact the patient about their prescriptions and aftercare instruction sheet. Professional silence and secure data management are the two ways that a health care professional can achieve confidentiality for their patient at hand. • In this case, how would you be able to correct your error and provide the missing documents and instructions to the patient while still protecting patient confidentiality under HIPAA?
In this case I would be able to correct this error and provide the missing documents and instructions to the patient by contacting the doctor that provided service to this patient and having them contact the patient. This way I ensure that I am not violating the patient’s privacy. •List 3 ways patient confidentiality is maintained in the reception/waiting area of a medical office.
Three ways patient confidentiality can be maintained in the reception/ waiting area of a medical office:
The first thing would be not