Volume 26 • No. 8
As hospitals prepare for new medical privacy rules, physicians can expect changes
Online incident-reporting system will allow hospital to respond more quickly, identify trends
Gerardi appointed as new patient safety program manager
Profile: Michael Bellino (chief of Stanford's orthopedic trauma service)
Infectious disease specialist helps launch AIDS training program in Uganda
SF Giants event raises liver transplant funds
PAST ISSUES
As
hospitals prepare for new medical privacy rules, physicians can expect
changes
Starting in April, health-care providers nationwide will need to comply with the medical privacy regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a 1996 federal law. The regulations aim to ensure that patients' medical information is kept confidential, is used for medical purposes only, and is used and disclosed only to the extent necessary for patient care or certain related business purposes.
For Stanford Hospital & Clinics and its medical staff, that means several changes are on the horizon - changes in how computer systems operate, how patient information is stored, how physicians communicate with patients and each other, and how patient information is used in education and research.
Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are in the middle of an extensive effort to gear up for the April deadline. While the effort involves much work on the information-technology side, it will also have a significant impact on physicians' daily practice, said Joseph Hopkins, associate chief of staff.
"We need to be more conscious and sensitive about issues of privacy," said Hopkins, who is heading Stanford's compliance efforts relative to physicians. As a starting point, he said, "I invite physicians to think about their own health information, or that of a spouse, and how they would want it used."
