How to Keep Patient Information Confidential

Important to effective medical treatment is patient-physician confidentiality. In order for patients to disclose personal information about themselves, they must be able to feel comfortable that their symptoms, history and conditions, and anything related, will be kept private. Other than being required to do so by law, or if the patient is in danger of hurting himself or someone else, a physician should retain express consent to have their medical information or records released to a third party. Putting practical procedures in place in your medical practice can help to prevent patient information from being revealed.

Things You'll Need

• Filing cabinets
• Computers

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Instructions

• 1

  Allow only authorized medical personnel and office staff to have access to all patient's medical information. Establishing strict parameters around who can see what can help to prevent information from being revealed.

• 2

  Establish clear guidelines to be used when releasing patients' medical information, such as requiring written consent from the patient. Put these guidelines in writing and make all personnel and patients aware of them.

• 3

  Discourage medical staff from reading patient's files and history when it is not necessary in order to perform a job function. Even when assisting patients, it may be unnecessary for staff to be privy to the full medical history of a patient.

• 4

  Allow medical personnel and office staff to only access patient's medical information if they are performing a work-related function, such as treatment, filling prescriptions or insurance- and billing-related activities.

• 5

  Warn all medical and office staff to not discuss patients in any way in common areas of the office where non-medical people may be. This includes elevators, restrooms and the building lobby.

• 6

  Attach a cover sheet to all outgoing faxes that have patients' medical information on them. The cover sheet allows the recipient to deliver the fax to the appropriate person without having to scan the papers in order to see to whom the fax should go or what the fax is about.

• 7

  Secure your office at night and on the weekends. Lock all file cabinets and make computers password sensitive in order to prevent any unauthorized people from looking at information.