Legal Aspects of Health Information

In addition, third parties are also allow to have access to patient-specific information if there is an appropriate request (McKay, 2010). This is according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HAIFA) and the state laws and regulation that pertains the release of the protected health information. The HAIFA privacy rule sets limits that are explicit for the persons that are in a position to access the retorted heath information for patients without the consent of the patients (McKay, 2010).According to HIPPO privacy law, third parties, who may be strangers to patient, also have a right to access the patient health information if they have a valid authorization to release the record. Examples of third parties that will need authorization to access patient information are patient’s employer, attorney, insurance company, or even a member of the patient’s family (unless the member has been appointed as a durable power of attorney for health care).

In some cases, third party may be able to access the patient information even without the authorization.

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Examples are accredited and licensed agencies and a court may “grant access to patient records in a lawsuit upon a finding of good cause” (McKay, 2010). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent is an individual who is responsible for the investigative purpose and in the agency of internal intelligence where he or she investigates crimes in the United States (FBI – About Us, n. D. ). Therefore, an FBI agent tit a search warrant is an authorized user who has consent for the release of protected health care information since he is a person who is in the law enforcement agency.Law enforcement is usually entitled to the health records once it has been asserted that they are looking for the health records of a suspect or a victim of a crime. As the head of the health information management department, I would allow the FBI agent to have access to the health information and records of the General hospital for purposes of investigation.

As for the patient, it is unnecessary to notify them that their health care records has been disclosed to a government agency.According to McKay (2010), individuals are not given the opportunity of knowing that their health records were needed by the law enforcement officer. This is because the individuals concerned will get a chance to challenge the infringement of the privacy concerns of their health records. The Patriot Act requires that the health care providers and the ones responsible for the health information management to deter room telling any other person that a Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained the health records.