The Integration of Health and Counseling Services on College Campuses: Is There a Risk in Maintaining Student Patients’ Privacy?

The formation of integrated centers on college campuses that combine health services and counseling provide clear advantages for students. There is currently no “best practices” model that informs integrated centers’ operational procedures. The “continuity of care” requirement of medical providers can conflict with the strict confidentiality guidelines of counselors, especially as it pertains to the sharing of patient information. Current informed consent procedures also contain deficiencies that should be addressed in integrated centers. Centers might refer to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards which accord psychotherapy notes special status, excluding them from medical records. As we consider the stigma that is still attached to pursuing counseling services, we need to establish a system within integrated centers that does not pose additional barriers to students’ help-seeking behaviors. Despite the challenges, positive collaboration can occur between medical providers and mental health personnel in devising documentation and record sharing procedures that safeguard student patients’ privacy interests.     

Chapter 2. Governing Policies for Interlibrary Loan

Abstract

ILL activity is governed by local, state, and national agreements and codes. Chapter 2 discusses the importance of national and statewide ILL codes of conduct, and also covers laws and regulations (confidentiality, the PATRIOT Act, HIPAA) germane to interlibrary loan.     

Health Care Providers' Confidentiality Practices and Perceptions: Expanding a Typology of Confidentiality Breaches in Health Care Communication

Confidentiality breaches of health information can affect every person who seeks medical care. To better understand this phenomenon, breaches of confidentiality by employees in a health care organization were examined and compared to the perceived confidentiality maintenance actions of the organization's health care providers. The study, using observation and interviews of a health promotion department, supported Brann and Mattson's (2004) typology of confidentiality breaches, provided evidence for another type of communicative breach, and revealed inconsistencies between health care providers' actions and their perceptions of those actions. Future research should address the prevalence of such discrepancies in other health contexts and its impact on patient care.     

Wearable devices and healthcare: Data sharing and privacy

Wearable devices introduce many new capabilities to the delivery of healthcare. But wearables also pose grave privacy risks. Furthermore, information overload gets in the way of informed consent by the patient. To better protect American patients in an increasingly digital world, the U.S. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This article examines the adequacy of HIPAA vis-à-vis issues raised by wearable technologies in the Internet of Things environment and identifies policy gaps and factors that drive health data exposure. It presents a 2 × 2 Partnership-Identity Exposure Matrix, illustrates implications in four different contexts, and provides recommendations for improving privacy protection.