Privacy and Cultural Competency

HIPAA Privacy Rule Considerations

Dealing with a diverse patient population will impact the right to patient privacy as mandated by the HIPAA Privacy Rule in a couple of distinct ways. Many patients might not necessarily understand their rights to privacy, or their other rights. Such a statement is particularly relevant when dealing with immigration populations. For instance, numerous members of these populations may not speak English very well. Additionally, depending on which ethnicity they are members of, it might be difficult to find a translator or someone that can speak their native language. As such, one of the potential barriers I might come across in a medical setting when dealing with a diverse patient population is simply attempting to communicate to its members the information that they need -- and are entitled to according to the HIPAA Privacy Act. Again, depending on which ethnicity or nationality a particular patient represents, simply communicating successfully with that patient might prove difficult. This fact is compounded by the reality that "lack of access to care" does "exist along racial and ethnic lines" (Department of Health 2).

In this respect, gaining a degree of cultural competency could tremendously help the aforementioned situation. Firstly, it is not too difficult to expect a culturally competent professional to know some common and key terms in languages other than English. In particular, there is a burgeoning Spanish speaking population in the U.S., which makes the incorporation of a basic understanding of this language valuable to anyone interacting with culturally diverse populations. However, a large part of cultural competency that is apropos to the aforementioned situation relates to merely understanding various cultural signs of significance. Even if members of a particular population can speak English with some degree of proficiency, their understanding of privacy regulations, medical information and payment data might not be sufficient. Those in the medical field need to be able to discern just when patients can and cannot understand them, regardless of whether or not they say they do.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule can certainly impact the care that is administered to a pair of different culture. Even though the rule is actually the same in both instances, there are certain facets of cultures that influence what sort of care is given, and what sort of barriers to proper care will exist. For instance, if there were an affluent person from a Eurocentric background whose family had been in the country for multiple generations, such a person would likely be able to maximize the coverage which he or she has. For instance, this person would be abreast of the fact that there are certain preventative measures that are now free for health care. Thus, such a person would take advantage of his or her free physicals and the blood work that takes place which is free now.