Health Information Management
In the medical field, there also exist fraud and abuse of resources and the information about patients’ confidentiality. The fraud can majorly be as a result of stolen medical record files, lost patient receipts, and missing drugs for patients. All the misconduct results from the misappropriating handling of data. In such setups, the physicians can play a crucial role in mitigating the fraud and abuse (Green & Bowie, 2005). The practitioners can lessen the cases of fraud by being on the frontline in the keeping and recording of the health centers data and information. This paper discusses the role of medical officers in mitigating fraud and abuse. Also electronic methods will be discussed and their importance in the medical field (Green & Bowie, 2005).
Health professional are in the pivotal position of running the activities of a health care center. Therefore, they are the only major stakeholders that can take part in the mitigation of fraud and abuse. The professionals should be responsible for the flow of information within the health care institution, and thus, minimize the cases of mishandling information that will give room for fraudulent activities. The medical officers to the management of the health care centers should communicate the information and record about the patients and their medical history so that it can be stored for future use. Also, the practitioners need to keep quality records on patients and make them available at any time they will be required. The records will be used to manage the conditions and the payment made within the hospital. Therefore, the medical officers can play a role in mitigating abuse (Peden, 2016).
The doctors should take part in the management of the patient records and receipts. The files about the patient are crucial to any healthcare center since they carry the data about patient's conditions, medical history and other confidential information. The safety of the records should be taken with seriousness by doctors so as to reduce the fraud cases that arise from mismanagement of health records of the hospital (McWay, 2015). The health information professionals need to oversee any transfer of data from one file to another; they should ensure there is no alteration of the information and by so doing lessening the cases of fraud and abuse. They should also provide a useful and quality format for storing the data so that nonprofessionals cannot alter the data, the mode and form; however, the method should be clear to other medical officers. Preventing inappropriate handling of hospital data will reduce the misconduct and fraud cases within the health facility (Green & Bowie, 2005).
While presenting the information or transferring the information to another person, the medical information officers should make sure the provided information is accurate and similar to the original that was collected by the medical officers. They should keep a copy of the original data for reference; in case, there emerges suspicion of fraudulent activity and misappropriation of the information. Therefore, the health information officers can help in mitigating the fraud and abuse that result from mishandling the data and information of the health center and patients (McWay, 2015).
Using computer coding programs to store information will make the health record private and accessible by qualified personnel only. The coded information can be passed through many nonprofessionals without being understood or being altered and thus the safety of the information will be guaranteed. However, it requires qualified and experienced personnel to handle the information. The process of coding may also be hard, and some information may be lost. Despite the challenges, coding can be seen to be a very secure way of keeping information and storing it in a safer way. The safety of the information will make it less alterable and thus, reduce the case of fraud and abuse of the information. Thus, coding will help the health information professionals in mitigating fraud and ill-treatment (Grebner, 2009).
Electronic health records (EHR) involves storing a health center's records and patients data in an electronically generated database for further reference and use. Depending on the users of the EHRs, the stored information can be kept safe and confidential. The database can be secured with passwords that allow only authorized personnel to access the data and information. The users can have their databases where the information can be kept and managed by the health information officers. In the case of any fraud or abuse of the information, it will be easier to control know who did what and when and, therefore, minimize the instances of fraud and abuse in the health facility (Grebner, 2009).
The government has set up several agencies within the health sector to detect and handle health-related fraud and ill-treatment. Government reports indicate that it has made a significant step in reducing such cases from happening. The accomplishments can be attributed to the policies that have been put in place to deal with any vase of fraud and abuse in the medical field (Peden, 2016).
As a health information officer in the field of practice, I will ensure all the information on patients and the health centers data has been stored in a safe and secure way. The transfer and review of data will be my main area of concern to reduce any case of fraud and mishandling of the data.
REFERENCES
Green, M. A., & Bowie, M. J. (2005). Essentials of health information management: Principles and practices. Clifton Park, N.Y: Thomson/Delmar Learning.
McWay, D. C. (2015). Legal and ethical aspects of health information management. New York: Springer.
Peden, A. (2016). Comparative health information management. Place of publication not identified: South-Western.
Grebner, L. A. (2009). Ethics case studies for health information management. Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning.
