Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:The Culture of Health Care
Unit:Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
Lecture:Tools for protecting privacy and confidentiality
Slide content:Potential Consequences of Poor Security According to Rindfleish (1997) Patients avoid health care Patients lie Providers avoid entering sensitive data Providers devise workarounds California Health Care Foundation (2005) 13% of consumers admit to engaging in privacy-protective behaviors that might put health at risk, such as Asking doctor to lie about diagnosis Paying for a test because they did not want to submit a claim Avoid seeing their regular doctor 7
Slide notes:Aware of the consequences of poor security, Rindflesich pointed out in the late 1990s that patients take various actions to protect their security. They avoid seeking health care. They lie or withhold information so private information wont end up in their charts. Health care providers also have concerns about security, so they may avoid entering sensitive data that could be important in the care of a patient by others, and they may also devise workarounds to entering that information. A California Health Care Foundation survey of health care consumers found that thirteen percent engaged in activity that the foundation termed privacy-protectiveactivities that might put their health at risk, such as asking a doctor to leave out a diagnosis, perhaps to prevent someone from knowing that they have a certain diagnosis. Some consumers also pay for tests out-of-pocket because they do not want to submit an insurance claim, knowing that when a claim is submitted, the insurance company then knows that the test was done. Others avoid seeing their regular doctor for some problems because they want to protect their privacy and avoid revealing sensitive information. These examples demonstrate why clinicians may use patient-sourced information as complementary data to provider-sourced information. 7