محمد صالح محمد النيف

 

 

HI 561: Legal Ethical, and social Aspects of Health Informatics, 3credit hours

3:00-6:00 Sunday

Instructor: Mohammed S. Alnaif,   Ph.D.

Office phone # 4693633

                      4693681

alnaif@ksu.edu.sa

malnaif@hotmail.com

 

 

Course Description

 

            Health information management (HIM) professionals must have technical and ethical expertise. This course describes the importance of ethics in the management of health information, professional values and obligations as guided by professionals’ codes of ethics. It starts off with ethical theories, principles, and tools that are important when making ethical decisions. Then explores privacy and confidentiality within the context of the many uses of health information, and covers ethical dilemmas faced in the process of clinical coding, pricing, access, and quality management. It addresses the importance of patient safety and organizational values, research and decision support for data acquisition, access and reporting. The course explores issues related to computerization of health information including electronic health record (HER), information security, software development and implementation, data resources management, integrated delivery systems, and e-health and e-HIM systems. The course also discusses the management of highly sensitive health information, and how to balance requests from various entities while protecting patient privacy. It will include case scenarios related to the profession for discussion of the core salient topics of the course and an ethical decision matrix to evaluate and resolve problems based on an understanding of values, obligations, and multidisciplinary perspectives.

 

Course Objectives:

 

1.      Define ethics and understand the importance of studying ethics for the HIM professional.

2.      Identify ethical concepts, including relevant values, principles, virtues, approaches, and theories.

3.      Understand the role, values, and ethical obligations of the HIM professional.

4.      Describe current ethical dilemmas faced by HIM professionals.

5.      Understand the difference between privacy and confidentiality.

6.      Know and discuss release of information criteria, and patient and professional concerns about privacy and confidentiality.

7.      Discuss the laws and penalties concerning fraud and abuse in health care.

8.      Understand the responsibilities and liabilities of the HIM professional in relation to laws, regulations, and penalties concerning fraud and abuse in health care.

9.      Understand the ethical implication on clinical coding and code selection.

10. Identify a variety of unethical practices related to code selection and use.

11. Identify the common ethical issues in healthcare quality management (QM).

12. Identify common responses to ethical issues that may be presented to HIM professionals who are involved in QM activities.

13. Discuss the ethical responsibilities of research specialists and decision support specialists.

14. Recognize the role of ethics in assessing technology and electronic health record applications.

15. Recognize characteristics of information exchange that support patient autonomy.

16. Demonstrate how practice issues can be analyzed on the basis of principles and related values as framework for identifying ethical questions.

17. Define and discuss data integrity, authenticity, and security.

18. Discuss risk analysis and the role it plays in the security program.

19. Identify potential software development and implementation conflicts.

20. Discuss the ethical questions facing data resource managers.

21. Identify the challenges and key issues regarding the protection of patient information and quality in an integrated delivery system (IDS).

22. Describe the benefits and risks for e-health services.

23. Illustrate and understand the role of ethics in designing, developing, and implementing electronic health information policies and processes that involve multiple stakeholders across many organizations.

24. Comprehend the sensitivity of genetic information and the possible uses and misuses of this.

25. Discuss factors that challenge managers’ ability to increase moral awareness for themselves and their employees.

26. Identify ethical challenges and key issues that influence the interaction between venders and health information management professionals.

27.  Apply the process of ethical decision making to HIM scenarios.

 

 

Texts:

Harman, Laurinda Beebe. “Ethical Challenges in the Management of Health Information” Second Edition, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts. 2006.

 

 

Attendance: attendance in class is required by the university and expected by the instructor. A student will be penalized for missing lectures.

 

Course Requirements:

o   Students are expected to read the materials required by the instructor of this course prior to the lecture.

scenarios related to the profession.

o   Complete the assignments assigned by the instructor over selected course content and reading materials.

o   Complete two tests during the semester.

o   Complete a final examination over course materials.

 

 

Course Evaluation

Test one                                   20%

Test two                                   20%

Assignments                              20%

Final Exam                                40%

 

Course Outlines