A home healthcare case manager often receives documents that ...

[crobinson2013]

A home healthcare case manager often receives documents that pertain to the care of clients on a shared fax machine. The case manager is aware of how important it is to protect each client's health information.
 
  Which action by the nurse ensures that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements are met in this situation?
  A) Have sending agencies call ahead before any information is sent.
  B) Take relevant information over the phone.
  C) Have the client sign a consent form for information to be released.
  D) Do not utilize the fax machine; depend on the mail system.

Question 2

The unit nurse educator is planning to instruct the staff on interventions to reduce the risk of infection for the client population. Which intervention is the most important to decrease client infection?
 
  A) Practice appropriate hand hygiene.
  B) Assess vital signs only once daily.
  C) Raise the temperature in the client's room.
  D) Wear a mask for all client care.

[nicoleclaire22]

Answer to Question 1

Answer: A

Case manager nurses need to maintain vigilance to protect the privacy of client healthcare information when sending and receiving messages. In this case, having the sending agency call prior to faxing information would alert the nurse to collect the information from the fax machine at the time it is received, securing that information so others would not have access to it. Signing a consent form for information to be released is necessary to share information, but this would ensure only the disclosure aspect of HIPAA-not the privacy aspect. Sending information through the mail takes time and does not ensure the privacy of the information. Taking information over the phone must be done in a way that is protected and secured in order to ensure that HIPAA privacy aspects have not been breached.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: A

Hand hygiene is always the first and best way to stop the spread of microorganisms, which cause infections. Assessing vital signs is important but should be done more frequently than once daily. Raising the temperature in a client's room would contribute to the growth of microorganisms. Wearing a mask for all clients is not practical and is unnecessary unless a microorganism is airborne and the client is in isolation.