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The Privacy Act
According to King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) confidentiality and privacy policy, the procedure for an internal doctor’s request to view a health record follows a standard protocol and the Privacy Act. For instance, the internal doctor can request and gain access to health records providing that it is for the purposes of the specific patient’s specific treatment.
There are also provisions in KKUH policy allowing certain health records to be accessed by internal doctors for the purposes of research. However, external doctor’s request to view a health record is more controlled. For instance, if an external doctor, that is a physician not employed by KKUH, requests specific clinical information regarding a patient, this external doctor must fill in a form and stating why this information is required.
This form requires the external doctor to list his or her name, the type of information he wants, the date of request, and to validate the request with a signature. The important things there must be consent from the patient with his details and signature. The Freedom of Information Department (FOI), which is a KKUH only after they have received and are satisfied with the entire requirement, will send the requested information.
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In addition, third party request to view a health record vary. For instance, government agencies have the executive power to access specific patient medical records without the consent of the patient. However, insurance companies generally require the consent of the specific patient in order to access specific patient medical records. These companies must formally request the information include the date of the request, which should be relevant to a time period of less than six months.
The FOI monitors these requests very closely and will generally limit the data which sent to the insurance companies to exactly what the organizations requested and no more than that. Furthermore, when the record is in relation to criminal matter, the police have executive power to access clinical information. The police are required to send a valid request form. Although it is preferable that the police have the patient’s consent, the police are able to access data without specific consent in serious cases.
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Moreover, public hospitals generally require the consent from the patient as well as identification and verification of the person, that is, the employee of the public hospital, requesting the information. The general rule in relation to patient data is that the health care setting is to only use this information for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, it is also generally accepted that patient data is not communicated to others without the patient’s consent.
The access of health record for patient is regulated by the Privacy Act, which establishes the basic principles of the Privacy Act and confidential communication. With regards to the private hospital sector, when private hospitals ask for clinical information, they are required to send patient request or doctor request with all details and are required to attach consent from the patient.
Furthermore, general public enquiries have the capacity to access broad statistical data about the hospital in different flow of area. However, these general public enquires, such as in the case of a newspaper contacting KKUH, are not granted access to any specific patient’s information. Finally, previous patients/clients have unlimited access to their health record.
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