Discuss the steps necessary to manage a breach of protected

Discuss the steps necessary to manage a breach of protected health information (PHI).

Solution

Protected health information (PHI) is said to be unsecured when it is not coded properly as per the government standards. Disclosure of PHI that interrupts the privacy rule is considered to be a breach. If there is breach in the PHI by any individual, the following steps are ensured to manage the breach.

1)

Risk assessment is done to determine whether the PHI is compromised. Assessment is performed by four factors such as the nature and the extent of the relevant PHI, the person to whom PHI was disclosed, whether PHI is really viewed or not, and the extent to which the PHI was mitigated.

2)

Consider when to send the notice to the patient. The steps to be taken by the person to protect against the potential harm he might encounter and brief protection to be taken against further breaches.

3)

Planning has to be done to send notice to the patients through a first-class mail. The breach notice can alert the spouse of the patient or any other family member with the information that the patient receives the treatment even though the patient does not want to reveal this information to the family members.

4)

If the number of breaches has reached by more than 500 patients, immediately the notice has to be sent to the HHS or health and human services.