How to Keep Protected Health Information Safe

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Course Title: Electrocardiograph Technician 3

  Course Number: 8427130

  Career Cluster: Health Science

  CIP Number: 0351090204

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  CTE Benchmarks:

  29.01 Recognize and practice legal and ethical responsibilities as they relate to an EKG aide.

  29.04 Implement appropriate Joint Commission patient safety goals and adhere to HIPAA regulations regarding Protected Health Information (PHI).

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “How to Keep Personal Health Information Safe.” See CPALMS resource ID# 207925.

• Career Connection

  
  

  Students will learn what actions will protect patients’ Protected Health Information (PHI) and which may open it to risk. They will also develop further understanding of the legal and ethical implications of working as an electrocardiogram (EKG) technician.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Role-play real life scenarios to identify appropriate HIPAA practices related to protecting patient health information.
  • Recognize and explain HIPAA violations.
  • Develop ways to safeguard protected health information.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • The expected role/ responsibilities of an EKG technician.
  • HIPAA law and consequences of violation.
  • The concept of PHI.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What are some things you can do in the workplace to safeguard protected health information?
  • In which, if any, situations is it acceptable to share protected health information?
  • Why is it in law to protect patients' health information?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. To introduce the lesson, discuss HIPAA and review what information falls under the term “Protected Health Information.”

  • Ask students to think of ways to avoid sharing patient information and what (if any) situations exist where it is ok to share PHI.

  2. Set the purpose of the lesson and have students recap the scenario in the case study, How to Keep Personal Health Information Safe CPALMS Resource ID# 207925.

  • Ask students to identify areas where Jolie interacted with PHI and indicate if she treated it in a safe manner or not.

  3. Students will discuss in small groups what Jolie did well and where she needs improvement.

  • Ask students to discuss how they would have handled the situation and what Jolie should do next.

  4. Engage in a class discussion regarding what the students learned from the case study.

  • What did Jolie do to protect her patients' health information? What could she have done better?
  • What ramifications might occur for Jolie following her conversation with Sasha? What ramifications might occur for Sasha? Who else might be impacted by their conversation?

  5. With their group, ask students to write a role-play scenario demonstrating both the proper and improper way to adhere to HIPAA regulations.

  • Remind students that protecting information isn’t always as obvious as closing a computer screen. Ask them to come up with less apparent ways information may be shared.

  6. Have students role-play their scenarios highlighting the ways in which protected health information was kept safe and ways in which it wasn’t.

  • While watching the role-play scenarios, students will list examples of proper and improper safeguarding of PHI. Provide students with PHI handout (see attachments) to write down their examples.

  7. To bring the lesson to a close, discuss the scenarios and the examples the students wrote. Have them discuss the improper examples and suggest ideas to correct them on the PHI Handout (see attachments).

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Role-play scenarios can be prepared ahead of time rather than having students write them during class
  • Students can present a video rather than an in class role-play activity.

• Optional

  
  

  Formative Assessment Ideas:

  • Review students' examples on the PHI Handout based on the role-play scenatios to determine if they can identify if HIPAA was violated and how to correct the violation.

  Extension Ideas:

  • Students can research instances of major HIPAA violations in the media and discuss the ramifications that occurred to the parties involved.