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Professional Values & The Code of Ethics - NOTES

Professional values and a code of ethics are important for health information management professionals. Shared values for professionals include accountability, advocacy, collaboration and competency. A code of ethics establishes rules for acceptable behavior and sends a message that compliance is expected. It provides internal guidance and externally demonstrates an organization's values and commitments. Health information management professionals are responsible for ensuring the best healthcare information is available to guide decisions by managing clinical data and information resources. They play strategic roles in privacy and security, interoperability, adoption of health technologies, and collaborative governance to develop a nationwide health information infrastructure. Maintaining professional standards through adherence to codes of conduct is important for individual professionals and the discipline as a whole.

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Professional Values & The Code of Ethics - NOTES

Professional values and a code of ethics are important for health information management professionals. Shared values for professionals include accountability, advocacy, collaboration and competency. A code of ethics establishes rules for acceptable behavior and sends a message that compliance is expected. It provides internal guidance and externally demonstrates an organization's values and commitments. Health information management professionals are responsible for ensuring the best healthcare information is available to guide decisions by managing clinical data and information resources. They play strategic roles in privacy and security, interoperability, adoption of health technologies, and collaborative governance to develop a nationwide health information infrastructure. Maintaining professional standards through adherence to codes of conduct is important for individual professionals and the discipline as a whole.

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jimaldolly
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Professional Values the Code of Ethics

Professional Values
Values define a profession‟s roles and ethical duties, and underscores the need to acknowledge
shared values, beliefs and interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve a desired outcome. Share
values include accountability, advancement, advocacy, autonomy in decision making,
collaboration, commitment, compassion, competency (both individual and professional,
protection of privacy and confidentiality, continuing education, dedication, education
development, honest, honor, human dignity, human relationship, justice, mentoring, precision
and accuracy in caring, respect, responsibility, security of information, service, sympathy, trust,
truth, worthiness, wholeness

The Code of Ethics


A set of professional standards, A professional code of ethics offers a set of guidelines teams or
organizations can use to make good decisions in the workplace. It allows you to set a baseline
expectation for what is socially acceptable and how professionals should approach problems.
Though creating and maintaining a professional code of ethics takes some time, it can help your
organization‟s employees work honestly and with integrity, which can help create a healthier
work environment.

Importance of code of ethics


A professional code of ethics is designed to ensure employees are behaving in a manner that is
socially acceptable and respectful of one another.
 It establishes the rules for behavior and sends a message to every employee that universal
compliance is expected.
 It also provides the groundwork for a preemptive warning if employees break the code. A
code of ethics can be valuable not just internally as a professional guide but also
externally as a statement of a company‟s values and commitments.
 Provide competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and
rights.
 Uphold the standards of professionalism, be honest in all professional interactions and
strive to report professional‟s deficient in character or competence, or engaging in fraud
or deception, to appropriate entities.
 Respect the law and recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements
which are contrary to the best interests of the patient.
 Uphold ethical standards of truthfulness, impartiality, objectivity and integrity.
 Maintain confidentiality when handling clients‟ private information or when dealing with
the company‟s own proprietary data.
HEALTH INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS & JOB ROLES

The committee on professional development of American Health Information Management


Association (AHIMA) states that health information management (HIM) professionals are
responsible for improving “the quality of healthcare by insuring that the best information is
available for making any healthcare decision” by managing healthcare data and information
resources. The professionals can be in charge of the services in “planning, collecting,
aggregating, analyzing, and disseminating individual patient and aggregate clinical data. Thus
HIM professionals are conventionally the business managers and custodians of data and
information in healthcare.

An information system consists of four interrelated components—data, information technology,


process, and users. HIM professionals‟ traditional job roles make them the experts in managing
data and processes in an information system. With the digitizing of information systems in
healthcare organizations, the roles of HIM professionals have expanded into information
technology (IT) and user support, which usually are the functions of IT supporting services. HIM
professionals‟ training and experience in the intersection of clinical and management sciences as
well as their knowledge about data quality equip them with the capability to maintain the
integrity and accessibility of health information,

Strategic Roles of HIM Professionals for National Health Information Infrastructure


The purpose is to prioritize 4 themes: 1) privacy and security, 2) interoperability, 3) adoption,
and 4) collaborative governance whose goal is to develop a nationwide health information
infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information, a pillar of high
continuity of care by strengthening relational continuity, informational continuity, and
management continuity. Informational continuity is defined as „the capacity of information to
travel with the patient and within the health system‟ ; Relational continuity refers to a
longitudinal and trusting relationship between a patient and one or more health care providers,
which is considered to be a core element of primary care; management continuity means that
health care delivered by several care providers follows a shared care protocol and that services
are delivered complimentarily. Collected information, patient records, telecommunication,
referral systems, and feedback by other care providers are essential building blocks for achieving
information continuity

HIM Roles in Privacy and Security


HIM professionals must strengthen their roles in facilitating electronic exchange for access and
use of health information while protecting the privacy and security of patients‟ health
information. The HIM professional‟s evolving role as the data steward and standards for data
content, data mapping, and documentation across the healthcare continuum and balancing
access, privacy, and security. At the population level, HIM professionals need to advance
privacy and security policies, principles, procedures, and protections for information access and
use in population health.
Additionally, telemedicine technologies and technologies that provide home health monitoring of
patients expand the landscape of privacy and security concerns. Patient information is often
collected off-site from the facility and electronically transmitted to the facility and incorporated
into the facility EHR system. These changes in healthcare delivery challenge the HIM
professional to adapt privacy and security policies and procedures to a rapidly changing
healthcare system.

HIM Roles in Interoperability


Information interoperability enables the movement of electronic health information to where and
when it is needed to support individual healthcare needs and population-oriented uses; and key
to achieving interoperability is to have various information systems use a common set of
standards for data nomenclature, terminology, content, structure, and messaging of health
information. HIM professionals should also become leaders in adopting health information
standards for interoperability of health information including use of ICD 10

HIM Roles in Adoption of HIT


Deployment of electronic health records and personal records that put information to use in
support of both individual and population health requires adoption of eHealth by information
professionals
.
HIM Roles in Collaborative Governance
Coordinated organizational processes and supporting information use for population health.
Requires involvement of HIM in collaborative governance and leadership to assume a more
active representation in decision making

Professional discipline
Professional life requires continued adherence to codes of conduct both within and beyond the
workplace. Professionals must each comply with the standards set by their professional
regulatory bodies. Failure to do so may lead to suspension or being struck off a register
altogether. Offending behaviour can relate to incompetency or inappropriate or unlawful
activities, be this fraud, assault or inappropriate sexual relationships. One has to be give fare
hearing during investigations and disciplinary hearings.

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