HBO Clinic: Report on Privacy, Ethics, and Compliance in Healthcare

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the ethical and legal obligations of the HBO clinic. It begins with an examination of the clinic's privacy policy, detailing how patient health information is collected, used, and disclosed. The report then addresses several scenarios involving potential breaches of confidentiality, verbal abuse, and staff misconduct, analyzing the legal and ethical implications of each. Task 3 focuses on the organization's ethical audit, outlining key legal and ethical obligations, the roles required for compliance, and the importance of policies and procedures. It also covers record-keeping requirements, steps to ensure staff compliance, potential breaches, and consequences of non-compliance. The report concludes with a discussion on accreditation, continuous improvement, and how the organization can maintain knowledge of compliance requirements, offering practical insights into managing ethical and legal challenges in a healthcare setting.

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Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

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Task 1
HBO clinic
Privacy policy
Purpose
This provides information to patients on how their health information is collected and used
within the practice, and the circumstances in which the information may be disclosed to third
parties.
privacy and confidentiality/Confidentiality agreements
A privacy and confidentiality policy ensures that no information of the patients gets into the
wrong hands (Ahia, 2003). This policy gives the patient the rights to determine how, when and to
what extent their medical information can be shared with other people(Hermann, Remley and
Huey, 2010).
patients access to their own health information/Request
Patients should fill out request for personal health information at the reception if they want to
access their own information.
Request of PHI by other medical facilities

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Request should be made by the patient to transfer their information to another medical practice
by completing a request for medical request transfer form.
security
The practice maintains the security of personal health information of the patients(Remley and
Herlihy, n.d.).
Disclosure to third parties
At HBO, we do not allow third parties to get a patients personal health information. However,
the patient should fill thid party disclosure form if he is willing to share information to third
parties.
Informing new patients
This should be made on the company’s website and notice boards. Patients should be encouraged
to read this notices when they visit the health facility.
Patients access to the personal health information (PHI)
A patient has the right to access his or her medical information as long as he is above 18 years
old and can make sound decisions. However, their information should be accessed from their
personal doctors or the administrative office on request (Weber, 2001).

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Alteration of Patients Medical records
At HBO, we are aware that alteration of patients medical records can hurt a physician in medical
practice. Therefore disciplinary actions will be taken on any one who alters the medical records
of a patient(Bonhoeffer et al., n.d.).
Patient consent
Practice staff will only apply the consent of a patient for he primary purpose for which it was
provided. Staff must also seek additional consent from the patient if the information needed is to
be used for any other purpose(Bonhoeffer et al., n.d.).
TASK 2: Scenarios
Legal and ethical issue
Confidentiality and right to private information
Right to privacy:
privacy and confidentiality is enshrined in the constitution. It is also an ethical issue in medical
world where a doctor is supposed to take the hypocritical oath to protect private information of a
patient. In this case, a receptionist is giving private information in form of a phone number from
one patient to another. This is absolutely wrong as it hinders the right to private information and

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confidentiality (McDaniel, 2004). When hiring, the management of the hospital should make it
clear that it is a person’s right to privacy and confidential information. In this case the
receptionist behaved unethically by giving a private number of patient X to patient supposing
patient B contacts patient x, then patient X asks where the patient got the number, X has all the
legal right to take the issue to the courts and sue the institution(Dewey, 2016).
The management of these ethical issues will be addressed after the receptionist is taken action
on. She can be terminated or given a warning in order for her to learn how unethical it is to give
private and confidential information. In hiring, all issues legal should be laid bare for them to
learn what should be done and what not to be done.
2. You saw a staff member getting agitated and verbally abusing a young client from diverse
culture.
Legal issue
This can be classified as slander or just verbal abuse and use of insultive language. When a client
is verbally abused by a staff member and especially when the client is from a diverse culture, it
sends a wrong message and may be described as discrimination or prejudice towards a particular
culture (Garwood-Gowers, Tingle and Wheat, 2005). This will set a bad precedent especially
when the facility is graced by many people from diverse cultural background.
The issue can be addressed by firing the staff who is verbally abusing a client from a culturally
diverse background. The legal remedy of this is to say no to prejudice by addressing this issue
through warnings and cautions. It is also ethical to set rules and guidelines in addressing abusive
languages and insults.

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3. Two staff members are gossiping about the behaviour of a client. They are laughing about
their behaviour and medical problems. One of the staff members involved has no responsibility
of the treatment of the client.
Legal issues
Privacy, confidentiality and prejudice
When hiring, the management of the hospital should make it clear that it is a person’s right to
privacy and confidential information. She can be terminated or given a warning in order for her
to learn how unethical it is to give private and confidential information (Steinbock, Arras and
London, 2009). In hiring, all issues legal should be laid bare for them to learn what should be
done and what not to be done. The legal remedy of this is to say no to prejudice by addressing
this issue through warnings and cautions. It is also ethical to set rules and guidelines in
addressing abusive languages and insults(HANVEY, 2016).
TASK 3
Ethics In The Audit
In a report you are required to address the following issues/points
1. List all the key legal and ethical obligations that apply to the organisation and its staff
members and briefly describe each which applies.

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The legal and ethical issues in an organization include;
 Professionalism
 Integrity
 Honesty
2.To meet with the requirements of applied legal and ethical obligations, what specific job roles
should be created in compliance department and how the people in those roles can update their
knowledge in relating to compliance issues or changing legislations?
 Internal auditor position- to check internal auditing functions
 Compliance officer- to ensure that the organization follows all the compliance issues in
the organization.Assurance is also a role to be created in the department(Spencer, n.d.).
3.When and why legal advice is needed?
Legal advice is needed when an institution is at loggerheads with clients or when it wants
consultancy services in regards to law.
4.Should organisation have policies and procedural guidelines on managing ethical issues? if so,
what kind of issues should be addressed in that policy
An organization should always have policies and procedural guidelines in managing ethical
issues. This is because ethical issues are procedural and require to be organized. Ethical issues
include things like integrity, professionalism , honesty and privacy.
5.What records is the organisation required to keep?
Financial records such as balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statements.

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6.What steps can be taken to ensure that staff members are complying to their legal and ethical
obligations?
Orientation, teaching and training.
7.What are possible breaches related to legal or ethical conduct that organisation can face?
 Lawsuit against the mandate to buy health insurance.
 Breaches of electronic data.
 Recovery of audit contractors.
 Labour and employment issues.
 Medical malpractice.
8.What would be the consequences of non- compliance be?
The consequences of non-compliance include huge fines for the healthcare facility as
well as legal suits for ethical breaches.
9What should the organization do if breaches occur?
If breach occurs, the organization should first inform the lawyer representing them for
advice and also try to rectify the situation.
10.How staff member can report the issue relating to breach or unethical act?
A staff member can report issues related to unethical act or breach by informing the
administrators or supervisors of the health facility, and this should be done in accordance
to the policy of the organization and the right procedures followed(Moliterno and Paton,
n.d.).

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11.How organisation can get accreditation, name the bodies through this can be achieved.
Accreditation is done by a body known as the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. If the
following key elements have been fulfilled by the healthcare, then it gets accredited;
 A standard setting process
 Stewardship or governance function
 Continuous quality improvement
12.How organisation can maintain the knowledge of compliance requirements?
Organizations can maintain the knowledge of compliance requirements by constantly
checking the accrediting bodies website for any new information.
13.How the process of continuous improvement can help the organization in keeping up with
their compliance requirements?
Continuous improvement enables the organization to improve its everyday practice, it also
enables the organization to maintain quality care that the patient needs and to seek opportunities
to improve the care and its results (Moliterno and Paton, n.d.).

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References
Hermann, M., Remley, T. and Huey, W. (2010). Ethical & legal issues in school counseling.
Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.
Ahia, C. (2003). Legal and ethical dictionary for mental health professionals. Lanham, Mar.:
University Press of America.
Dewey, J. (2016). Ethics. Read Books Ltd.
Garwood-Gowers, A., Tingle, J. and Wheat, K. (2005). Contemporary issues in healthcare law
and ethics. Edinburgh: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
HANVEY, C. (2016). Practitioner's guide to legal issues in organizations. [Place of publication
not identified]: SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PU.

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McDaniel, C. (2004). Organizational ethics. Aldershot (England): Ashgate.
Steinbock, B., Arras, J. and London, A. (2009). Ethical issues in modern medicine. Boston:
McGraw-Hill.
Weber, L. (2001). Business ethics in healthcare. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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