Health Data Reporting Essay

Health data aggregation is a crucial process of information gathering for future research and analysis. However, there are cases where health information should be reported immediately to the state or federal authorities to prevent possible adverse effects. The present paper provides an overview of two instances of mandatory reporting in healthcare.

Child Abuse
Summary
Child abuse is one of the issues that require mandatory reporting to state authorities. Child Welfare Information Gateway (CWIG, 2016) created a list of professionals that are obligated to report any suspicion of child mistreatment that includes healthcare professionals, social workers, school personnel, and any other care providers working with minors. The measure was introduced to fight against child abuse and prevent any possible harm to children. Apart from obligations imposed by state laws, there is often an institutional responsibility to report whenever a professional suspect or has reason to believe that a child has been abused or neglected. In short, maltreatment of minors is an issue that requires immediate disclosure to state authorities.Health Data Reporting Essay

Information Submission
The information about child abuse can be submitted by almost any means. According to CWIG (2016), the most frequently used channel of reporting is through a federal toll-free number. However, it can also be disclosed through any other means including first-class mail, fax, online form, or email. In brief, data accumulation is made easy, as a person can use any convenient way of reporting.Health Data Reporting Essay

Status Quo Improvement Possibilities
While the process of information collection is convenient for the reporter, data entering and processing remains a challenge due to the lack of a standardized form of reporting. According to Coronel and Morris (2019), the essential characteristics of data that is easy to manage is integrity and absence of redundancy. However, information gathered about child abuse has to go through the normalization process before entering into the database. The reason for the issue is differences in state laws that make it impossible to create a unified entry form. In short, the status quo can be improved with the elaboration of a consolidated procedure of reporting.Health Data Reporting Essay

Security Breaches
Summary
Healthcare professionals are obligated by federal law to disclose all the information about security breaches concerning health data. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS, n.d.) requires all the medical personnel to report any cases of unauthorized use of protected information within the shortest possible time. It is made to fulfill the US Constitution, which protects every citizen’s privacy.Health Data Reporting Essay