HIPS Series > Privacy Issues for Clinicians > Quiz

The questions are below. If you need to review, the course content is here.

The correct answers, and explanations for why we believe them to be correct, are provided here.

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1. Which of the following is true?

A. Federal regulations (under HIPAA) require separate, independent consent or authorization for treatment-related uses and disclosures.

B. Federal regulations include treatment-related uses and disclosures in a large category (along with payment and health care operations) that require no specific permission from patients.

C. State laws and regulations regarding treatment-related consent are all over-ridden by HIPAA, and no longer have any effect.

D. State laws and regulations always over-ride federal regulations for treatment-related consent.

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2. Which of the following statements about the "minimum necessary standard" is true?

A. The federal "minimum necessary" standard for information use and disclosure applies to treatment with the same force that it applies to everything else.

B. The standard doesn't apply to treatment-related uses and disclosures at all. It's completely waived.

C. The standard applies to treatment-related uses, but not treatment-related disclosures, so as to avoid any interference with information exchanges among practitioners.

D. It's over-ridden by any conflicting state laws and regulations.

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3. The federal (HIPAA) provision for "incidental uses and disclosures" means what?

A. Accidental uses and disclosures are never subject to penalties in treatment contexts, even if there is negligence.

B. Accidental uses and disclosures are not subject to penalties provided reasonable administrative, physical and technical safeguards are in place.

C. Accidental uses and disclosures are not subject to penalties provided reasonable safeguards are in place and there has been no negligence.

D. It's over-ridden by any conflicting state laws and regulations.

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4.  Patients must be provided with federally-mandated Privacy Notices when they first encounter direct treatment providers. The implications of that for clinicians are:

A. Clinicians have no obligations to discuss privacy issues with patients. That task is generally reserved for the organization's "privacy official."

B. Clicians are forbidden from discussing privacy questions with patients. That task may only be undertaken by a privay official or an appropriate-certified alternate.

C. Clinicians are obligated to be the primary resource for patients' privacy questions, including questions about the exercise of federal rights.

D. The provision of the Notice just before receiving treatment means clinicians will receive some questions about privacy issues. There is an obligation to know the answers, or to be able to direct the patient to someone who does.

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5. What best describes the role of the clinician in these matters?

A. Clinicians have a primary responsibility to deliver care, so they aren't expected to be role-models for information privacy and security issues.

B. How clinicians handle information inevitably sets the tone for everyone else, so they example they set is critical.

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6. “Psychotherapy notes” is one category of health information for which HIPAA currently extends “extra” protections, with a requirement for separate authorization. For which other category does HIPAA make special provisions?

A. genetic information.

B. pregnancy-related information.

C. AIDS and sexually-transmitted disease information.

D. None of the above.

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7. When a patient enters a clinical facility, they must inevitably surrender control of their information for a broad range of uses and disclosures. In the circumstances where the patient retains control of information, which of the following is true?

A. If the person controls a decision about treatment, he/she generally controls decisions about the information associated with it.

B. Where the patient is too young or too incapacitated, the clinician may designate a personal representative to make information decisions on his/her behalf.

C. Discussions with patients' families now require explicit written permission from the patient, or his/her personal representative.

D. All of these are true.

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8. HIPAA provides for various rights with respect to patients’ health records. Which of these is not a HIPAA right?

A. To access and obtain a copy of the entire medical record without exception.

B. To secure changes to any element of the record that the patient believes to be in error.

C. To obtain an accounting of all disclosures of that record, regardless of type.

D. None of these are HIPAA rights.

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The correct answers, and explanations for why we believe them to be correct, are provided here.

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