Confidentiality in healthcare ensures that patient information remains private and secure. Laws and regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protect patients' confidentiality, requiring healthcare providers to establish and follow policies and procedures to safeguard patient privacy and data. Patient confidentiality matters for many reasons.
Patient confidentiality protects patient dignity, particularly those with conditions with societal stigmas, such as mental health illnesses and sexually transmitted infections. Publicly sharing medical information could harm a patient's reputation and cause embarrassment. This harm could result in hesitation to share vital information or seek treatment, hindering diagnosis and care and potentially harming others. By committing to confidentiality, healthcare providers make patients feel more comfortable sharing medical information, which leads to a better understanding of their health and enabling appropriate care.
Keeping a patient's information confidential can also prevent discrimination, misguided ideas, and stereotypes based on their health status. For instance, if employers or educational institutions learn about a patient's health condition, they may treat them unfairly, deny them opportunities, or fail to provide accommodations. Committing to patient confidentiality protects patients from these harms.
Upholding patient confidentiality can also help preserve a doctor's reputation. Breaching patient trust can result in severe consequences, such as damaging the doctor's credibility and ability to establish trust with other patients. Healthcare providers can enhance their reputations and foster positive patient relationships by demonstrating a commitment to confidentiality. Trustworthy doctors are also more likely to receive favorable reviews and recommendations.
Patient confidentiality has two main exceptions - one is when there is a safety concern. For example, if a patient expresses suicidal or homicidal thoughts, and a healthcare provider believes the threat is credible, the healthcare worker may have a duty to breach confidentiality to protect potential victims by notifying the authorities of the danger. Healthcare providers must carefully balance the duty to protect patient confidentiality with the duty to protect the safety of others.
Another exception is when there is a legal requirement to report certain conditions or circumstances, such as state laws mandating that healthcare providers report infectious diseases to public health authorities to safeguard public health. In such cases, the obligation to protect public health overrides the duty to uphold patient confidentiality. Other reportable instances may include suspected cases of abuse or gunshot wounds. Consequently, healthcare providers must stay updated on state and local policies and institutional policies regarding exceptions to patient confidentiality.
With the digitization of health records and the increasing use of digital tools, healthcare providers must prevent data breaches and cyber attacks. They can achieve this by investing in security technology and implementing administrative, physical, and technological safeguards. Performing a risk assessment of current patient information systems can help identify vulnerabilities and reduce the possibility of data breaches.
Moreover, healthcare professionals can uphold patient confidentiality by following HIPAA guidelines, establishing facility-wide procedures, complying with state regulations, properly disposing of patient-related documents, and maintaining proper security measures for physical files. Healthcare workers should avoid discussing patient information in public places and keep copies of handouts with identifiable information in secure locations to prevent unintended disclosure.
