What is a Breach of Patient Confidentiality?
Breach of patient confidentiality refers to incident where patient’s confidential information, learned by the doctor within the physician-patient relationship, is divulged to a third party without the former’s consent or court order. Breaching can be oral, written, or done via telephone or fax, or electronically by using email or health information network. Importantly, the medium of disclosure is not important but special security requirements may apply to the electronic transfer of information. HIPAA and Patient Confidentiality HIPAA Privacy Rule was introduced to ensure the privacy and protection of personal information of the patients held by physicians, hospitals and its staffs. HIPAA also provides a range of rights with respect to personal information. At the same time, the Privacy Rule permits the disclosure of personal health information when needed for patient care and other important purposes. The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, physical, and technical saf
