Authorization Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.
These are the MediaLab courses that cover Authorization and links to relevant pages within the course.
Learn more about laboratory continuing education for medical technologists to earn CE credit for AMT, ASCP, NCA, and state license renewal and recertification. Or get information about laboratory safety and compliance courses that deliver cost-effective OSHA safety training and continuing education to your laboratory's employees.
| Limiting Use and Disclosure of PHI A covered entity may use or disclose PHI, without getting an individual's authorization, in order to:Perform requested tests and treatments.Bill for the services performed.Perform essential operations, including quality assessment, accreditation, and compliance.Meet legal reporting requirements, including those mandated by public health departments, workers' compensation, law enforcement agencies, and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Other uses and disclosures require written authorization. | View Page |
| Minimum Necessary Use and Disclosure Minimum Necessary means that the laboratory will use and disclose only the minimum PHI necessary to accomplish its intended purpose, such as resulting the requested test. The regulation recognizes that there are situations where all of the PHI on a patient can be released. These include: When releasing PHI to another covered entity for treatment. When releasing an individual's PHI to himself or herself. When an individual has signed an authorization to release the PHI. When required to do so by law. | View Page |
| Authorization The privacy regulations give covered entities permission to use and disclose PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO), without obtaining specific authorization.A covered entity may disclose PHI to other covered entities such as reference laboratories, and homecare services, which are providing services to the primary covered entity.The service that the other covered entity is providing must fall within treatment, payment or health care operations (TPO).If the service being provided does not fall within TPO, an authorization is generally required.An authorization form must state the specific disclosures of PHI to be made, what the information will be used for, and must be signed and dated by the patient. | View Page |
| Case Study: Authorization
You are working in a physicians office. The doctor orders laboratory and other diagnostic tests on a patient with suspected Alzheimer's disease. He then asks you to give the patient's name and contact information to the local Alzheimer support group without getting permission from the patient or his legal guardian. Does the doctor need authorization from the patient or his legal guardian to do this? | View Page |
| Case Study: Limiting Use & Disclosure of PHI
You are the customer service representative in a clinical laboratory. You get a call from someone at a local gastroenterologist's office, with whom you are personally familiar, requesting that you fax results on a patient, which the referring physician's office had failed to provide. The doctor needs the test results immediately. Under the HIPAA Privacy Regulations the you can comply with this request, without getting written authorization from the patient. | View Page |
| Which statement(s) describe potential causes of medical errors involving the blood bank? | View Page |