Yarmohammadian Mohammad Hossein, Raeisi Ahmad Reza, Tavakoli Nahid, Nansa Leila Ghaderi
Health Management and Economic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
J Res Med Sci. 2010 May;15(3):140-9.
Hospitals have responsibility for responding to legitimate demands for release of health information while protecting the confidentiality of the patient health records. There have always been challenges concerning medical records confidentiality and their disclosure and release type in medical record departments. This study investigated and compared laws and policies of disclosure of health information in Iran and selected countries and tried to identify the differences and the similarities between them.
This is a descriptive and comparative study. The scope of study included related laws and policies of disclosure of health information in selected countries such as United States, Australia, England, Malaysia and Iran. Data were gathered from systematic internet search, library resources and communication with health information professionals. Data analysis was done using comparative tables and qualitative method.
Study results showed that legislative institutions of each country have ordained laws and policies concerning disclosure and release of health information and in turn hospitals developed policies and procedures based on these laws. In Iran, however, there are few laws and policies concerning disclosure of health information in the form of formal letters and bylaws. There are no specific written policies and procedures for disclosure of health information in the hospitals.
It is necessary to develop legitimate and appropriate laws and policies in different levels for information utilization by hospitals, medical universities and others. Meanwhile in all of the selected countries there are ordained limitations for release of health information for protecting health information in regard to patient rights.
医院有责任回应合法的健康信息公开需求，同时保护患者健康记录的保密性。在医疗记录部门，医疗记录的保密性及其披露和发布类型一直存在挑战。本研究调查并比较了伊朗和选定国家的健康信息披露法律和政策，试图找出它们之间的差异和相似之处。
这是一项描述性比较研究。研究范围包括美国、澳大利亚、英国、马来西亚和伊朗等选定国家的健康信息披露相关法律和政策。数据通过系统的网络搜索、图书馆资源以及与健康信息专业人员的交流收集。数据分析采用比较表和定性方法进行。
研究结果表明，每个国家的立法机构都制定了有关健康信息披露和发布的法律和政策，医院进而根据这些法律制定了政策和程序。然而，在伊朗，以正式信函和规章制度形式存在的有关健康信息披露的法律和政策很少。医院没有关于健康信息披露的具体书面政策和程序。
有必要在不同层面制定合法且适当的法律和政策，以供医院、医科大学及其他机构利用信息。同时，在所有选定国家，为保护患者权利方面的健康信息，对健康信息的发布都规定了限制。
