Health Care Response essay Assignment on Laws in the United States: Peer Responses

Peer 1 Tiffany

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Access to Health and Developmental Care: Children should have access to developmentally appropriate, integrated health care (i.e., physical, mental, developmental, oral, vision) that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective. A uniform set of core preventive and support services should be established through policy at the national, state, and local levels (APHA).  This principle was built off an archived policy used to provide a foundation for updating child health policies. Having access to health and developmental care is something that all populations can benefit from and in 2022 most have it available. All children are at increased risk of developing preventable conditions if appropriate care is not provided when they are sick or injured. I do believe we have quite a few good policies in place that serve our young population, but a gap still remains between the community of those children and the health care system.

 

American Public Health Association Child Health Policy for the United States https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/30/17/25/american-public-health-association-child-health-policy-for-the-united-states

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Peer 2 Sydney

The special population that I have selected is minors or individuals under the age of 18. There are many laws in the United States that are specific to minors and health care policy is no exception. I have always been a proponent of patient confidentiality, as it is a strong tenant of the health care system in the United States, and this grew stronger for me after working at Seattle Children’s Hospital. I worked with children and their families during what were often the most challenging and frightening times of their lives. Two areas of health care that often would cause rifts between patients and their families were mental/behavioral health and reproductive health. These two areas have strict privacy laws, and while I was familiar with them during my time at Seattle Children’s Hospital, I wanted to research this area more.

The HIPAA Privacy Law has several pieces related to minors. One of the most interesting to me is if it allows parents the right to access their child’s medical records. This was very relevant to my work, and generally true except for these situations:

1. When the minor is the one who consents to care and the consent of the parent is not required under State or other applicable law;
2. When the minor obtains care at the direction of a court or a person appointed by the court; and
3. When, and to the extent that, the parent agrees that the minor and the health care provider may have a confidential relationship (OCR, 2021).

The medical providers also have discretion if they are concerned for parental neglect or if sharing the information could endanger the child. In my work experiences, I have seen providers choose to not disclose information when parents or guardians have a history of abuse, substance disorders, or children have made decisions that parents are vocally opposed to such as abortion.

(OCR), O. for C. R. (2021, June 28). Does the HIPAA privacy rule allow parents the right to see their children’s medical records? HHS.gov. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/227/can-i-access-medical-record-if-i-have-power-of-attorney/index.html

 

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