Patient cases
A receptionist at a PT clinic is responsible for scheduling appointments and managing the clinic's EHR system. While checking the schedule and updating appointments, the receptionist leaves the computer monitor facing the waiting room. What preventative actions should she have taken to prevent compromised patient information?
She could log out of the computer or invest in a privacy screen/screen shield.
Provides continuous monitoring of activities, behaviors, physiological and biomechanical parameters
Wearable technology
How is health literacy a barrier for HIT
Patient's difficulty understanding medical terms reported in portals
How can Telehealth be used in the PT practice
remote care: expanding access and availability
A PT personally knows the patient’s physician outside of work. During the patient's treatment, the PT has additional questions and decides to use her personal cell phone to text the dogda. The physician responds by text with additional information about the patient's MRI findings and medical history. The PT then takes a screenshot of the text to keep in her camera roll and remember for future visits. What are the ethical concerns?
Didn't use secure EHR communication method. HIPAA: Information exchanged is protected health information. Future providers don’t have access to important clinical information if never documented in the EHR.
Online healthcare service delivery method that peaked in 2020 during COVID
Telehealth
How is digital literacy a barrier for HIT
Difficulty understanding how to use technology to access healthcare information
How can PTs use HIT as an education tool for their patients
Send them videos to help understand HEP
At the end of the busy day, PT Josephine realizes that several patient notes have not been completed. Because she is behind on documentation, she copies the previous visits note into the EHR and simply changes the date. The note states that the patient completed all planned exercises and tolerated the treatment well. However, during the actual session, the patient stopped several exercises early because of increased pain and PT Josephine did not perform the documented manual therapy. What are the ethical concerns?
Falsification of the patient's medical record. Fraudulent billing. Failure to document patient response to treatment. Harm to clinicians who rely on EHR information.
Digital record of patient's medical history designed to be shared securely across multiple providers
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
How is heterogeneity of platforms a limitation
Differences in how information is stored, labeled and organized
What does HIPAA stand for
Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
The PT is running behind schedule when a PTA, needs to access a patient's chart but has forgotten his password. To save time, the PT shares her login credentials with him so he can review the treatment plan and document the session. Later that week, the clinic discovers an error in the patient's record. Because they used the same account, the EMR identifies the PT as the person who made the changes, making it difficult to determine who was responsible for the error. What are the ethical concerns?
Security - password sharing. Accountability - the EMR cannot accurately identify who modified the patient’s record. Patient safety - the difficulty determining who made the error may potentially affect the patient’s future care.
Personal health tracking using mobile apps
mobile health technology
Concern for using AI
Does not follow requirements of HIPAA
How to prevent unauthorized disclosure
strong passwords, multifactor authentication, automatic log outs and train employees