Ethics And Law Of Health Information Assignment Sample

Ethics And Law Of Health Information

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Introduction

Information related to health care and patient management is mainly used for increasing the value-based care for patients and utilisation of opportunities for effective treatment procedures. Health information includes vast resources that include policies and patient management portals, smart phone records, pharmaceutical databases, research studies and articles, electronic health records from different organisations, public records and so on. In this case, the information can be divided into diverse types and backgrounds, which are mandatory to be merged for proper analysis. Hence this can be referred to as big data, which refers to a major factor in health information management. The vast information and various kinds of resources create a greater challenge for the process. This can be effectively analysed for the process. Adoption of big data can be challenging as it includes the management of confidentiality, required skill sets and resource mobilisation of this process.

Thesis statement:

This study mainly aims to discuss different approaches to BIG data in the health sector, identification of relatable challenges and possible implications for health information management in maintaining the privacy of patients.

Discussion

Concept of big data in healthcare

Information in health care mainly includes various kinds of aspects and resources. The information is considered mandatory for assessing previous records and comparing them with others. On the other hand, management and controlling efficiency can also be increased through effective analysis and control of the process. This is mandatory for developing effective treatment strategies for patients, increasing their value-based system. As suggested by Hoffman (2015), patient records are considered a sensitive type of data that can be used in the form of ramifications in the form of ethical and legal factors. Hence proper identification of the risks and challenges associated with internet access to patient information is needed to be analysed. Another major aspect of this data management includes the higher cost of data management (Robinson, 2021). In case of digital transformation and access to innovative technologies for data generation, collection and recording, the cost is also hiking up. Cost management and payment resources are also added to the vast resources of health information. Proper skills for management are mandatory for the overall circulation of information, that are mandatory for the purpose.

Publishing or availing public access to certain information includes liability along with the benefits. One of the major aspects of this process includes privacy threats (O’Doherty et al. 2016. As per the liability theory, providing access to the information may lead to certain faults and corruption, such as generalised use of information and privacy breaching, and hence the publication authority is considered liable for the process. This can be referred to as a violation of the Privacy act 1988 (Gov.au, 2019). Along with the variety and volume, velocity is also a major factor for big data in the health sector. Velocity refers to the speed of data generation process in health care. The patient records are updated and generated on day to day basis as the health sector is busy sector (Rockhold et al. 2016). This also includes change and development in health care policies. The higher rate of velocity decreases the accessibility rate, and hence application of innovative technologies is involved in this aspect.

Identification of challenges

There are several aspects of challenges involved in health information management, which mainly include management and ethical issues for this purpose. The information is important for overall healthcare management and improvement of awareness, and hence public access to certain information is desired for this purpose (Shilo et al. 2020). The process is also considered convenient for access to information related to health, updating them regularly and using them as per convenience. In the case of Australia, the health care policy involves “My Health Record” for Australian residents (Gov.au, 2019). This has been considered a foundation for digital health infrastructure. While considering the advantages, the major challenge for this purpose includes privacy threats. Information for the patient records, along with their identification, is the major factor. The big data in medical sectors includes effective analysis in respect of country privacy acts and regulations (Pastorino et al. 2019). As per the regulation, healthcare organisations are liable for the protection of patients' records and identities along with their management factors. As per the records, Australian citizens must check the security system for their health record system and approve the access and security checklist. Removal of all standard identifiers may refer to safe from privacy breaching.

On the other hand, the challenges in ethical aspects include effective management of the overall procedures. This may lead to targeting and discrimination on the basis of the origin and other specific features of patients. Healthcare availability and access are major factors for the overall well-being of the population (Senthilkumar et al. 2018). And this may lead to an increase in the rate of mortality and disease sufferings among the citizens. Apart from that, the economic background is also an effective factor for the quality management of treatment procedures. The health benefits provided to selected citizen groups through government authorities can be identified by the healthcare workers and lead to target and discrimination. Apart from patients, this process can also be observed in terms of employment, marketing agencies and other financial firms related to health sectors, and research study conductors (Gov.au, 2017). This may lead to incorrect propagation of the research process and leads to harmful conclusions.

The implication in respect of HIM

Implementation of the privacy maintenance policies are the major approach for the research. In case of digitalisation of health care, recording and monitoring for information, proper analysis and referring to the privacy acts are important for a country (Dash et al 2019). As discussed above, the Privacy act 1988 is the major regulation that is maintained by the Department of Health in Australian governance. The procedures are mandatory to be followed for the different aspects followed for the procedures, such as emergency care, aged care, aboriginal health, infrastructure management, protection and so on (Gov.au, 2019). This process has been effective for the overall analysis and management of the process. The identifiers may lead to reduce privacy threats. Hence removal of the identifiers in certain cases is mandatory for the process. Proper protection of sensitive information is also mandatory for the procedures (Bahri et al. 2018). This may include background data or health records, such s genetic information and biometric resources.

Data breaching has been considered an effective big data management issue. As per the department of health of the Australian government, proper management of the selected 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPS) used for health records is needed to manage and maintain the Privacy act, 1988, and provides the right to hide personal identity in the record (Gov.au, 2017). While collecting information from different resources, stating the effective purpose, intention and position are mandatory to inform. Also, the APPS are applied for the thyroid parties responsible for managing health records and information. In this case liability theory can be applied to the process, and hence the party and the government authority can be liable for data breaching.

Conclusion

The control and management of the process include effective analysis and control for the information management process. The wide variety of information resources and management affects the proper control over the process. Big data management in the case of the health care sector includes different ethical as well as legal issues that can be harmful. As health care records are sensitive information, they may affect and leads to targeting different population for this aspect. Among different issues, privacy has been considered the major factor for public access to information. The Australian government and the department of health include several aspects of management that are necessary for data management purposes. The Australian government has aimed to increase the efficacy of public digital health records through the implementation of increased personalisation of recording systems and using the advanced digital systems for the health sector.

Reference list

• Dash, S., Shakyawar, S. K., Sharma, M., & Kaushik, S. (2019). Big data in healthcare: management, analysis and future prospects. Journal of Big Data, 6(1), 1-25.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-019-0217-0
• Hoffman, S. (2015). Citizen science: the law and ethics of public access to medical big data. Berkeley Tech. LJ, 30, 1741. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.15779/Z385Z78
• O’Doherty, K. C., Christofides, E., Yen, J., Bentzen, H. B., Burke, W., Hallowell, N., ... & Willison, D. J. (2016). If you build it, they will come: unintended future uses of organised health data collections. BMC Medical Ethics, 17(1), 1-16. DOI 10.1186/s12910-016-0137-x
• Pastorino, R., De Vito, C., Migliara, G., Glocker, K., Binenbaum, I., Ricciardi, W., & Boccia, S. (2019). Benefits and challenges of Big Data in healthcare: an overview of the European initiatives. European journal of public health, 29(Supplement_3), 23-27. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckz168
• Robinson, K. (2021). A false promise of COVID-19 ‘big’health data? Health data integrity and the ethics and realities of Australia’s health information management practice. Health Information Management Journal, 50(1-2), 9-12.https://doi.org/10.1177/1833358320941190
• Rockhold, F., Nielsen, P., & Freeman, A. (2016). Data sharing at a crossroads. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(12), 1115-1117. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1608086
• Senthilkumar, S. A., Rai, B. K., Meshram, A. A., Gunasekaran, A., & Chandrakumarmangalam, S. (2018). Big data in healthcare management: a review of literature. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Business, 4(2), 57-69.doi: 10.11648/j.ajtab.20180402.14
• Shilo, S., Rossman, H., & Segal, E. (2020). Axes of a revolution: challenges and promises of big data in healthcare. Nature medicine, 26(1), 29-38.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0727-5

Websites

• Gov.au, (2019). Big data and AI. Retrieved on: 14th October 2022, Retrieved from: https://www.austrade.gov.au/digital-health-big-data-ai
• Gov.au, (2019). Recognise your privacy and security obligations, Retrieved on: 14th October 2022, Retrieved from: https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-healthcare-professionals/howtos/recognise-your-privacy-and-security-obligations
• Gov.au, (2017). Privacy Policy, Retrieved on: 14th October 2022, Retrieved from: https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/doh-full-privacy-policy.pdf
• Gov.au, (2019). The Privacy Act, Retrieved on: 14th October 2022, Retrieved from: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/the-privacy-act
• Gov.au, (2019). Health and medical research, Retrieved on: 14th October 2022, Retrieved from: https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/the-privacy-act/health-and-medical-research