Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Laws and Legal Issues for Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System

The Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System's Laws and Legal Issues

In order to implement and EHR system or Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System in the country successfully, a number of laws need to be enacted to protect patient records. The laws should focus on two main issues: right of privacy and right of access to health records, as discussed below.

The Right of Privacy for Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System

Growing demanded for information contained in patient records pose an ever increasing threat to patient privacy. When information from patient records or from Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System is disclosed by a provider, it is extremely difficult to control re-disclosure of the information effectively. The lack of protection of patient privacy may hinder full development of computer-based patient record systems.

Thus, the government has to enact privacy legislation to assure that the patient information from the Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System will not be disclosed to third parties without the patient's consent, except under defined circumstances.

Right of Access to Health Records for the Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System

Rights of access to health records from Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System maintained by physicians and other individual health care providers should be clear. According to a researcher, in the USA, several statutes contain special provisions concerning a patient's access to particular portions of his or her record, such as X-Rays. In the absence of regulation, some courts have recognized a provider's common-law duty to allow a patient limited access to his or her records in the Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System. The government has to enact a regulation to clear the right of access to patient records.

Another information, in addition, in the United States, there are numerous laws governing the provacy of personal information, including medical records in Electronic Medical Record Systems EHR System. Many of these laws also mandate that the security of records is also ensured.