CHL Healthcare Ethics and Regulations 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which document outlines a patient's wishes for end-of-life care if they become incapacitated?
- Living will (Correct answer)
- HIPAA authorization form
- Durable power of attorney for finances
- Medical release form
Correct answer: Living will
A living will is an advance directive that specifies a patient's wishes for medical treatment when they can no longer communicate those wishes.
Question 2: The False Claims Act imposes liability on healthcare organizations that:
- Fail to report adverse events to accrediting bodies
- Knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims to federal healthcare programs (Correct answer)
- Deny services to Medicare patients
- Violate patient confidentiality provisions
Correct answer: Knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims to federal healthcare programs
The False Claims Act holds entities liable for submitting knowingly false claims to government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Question 3: A healthcare leader is deciding how to allocate limited ICU beds during a surge. Which ethical framework focuses on achieving the greatest good for the greatest number?
- Deontological ethics
- Virtue ethics
- Utilitarian ethics (Correct answer)
- Rights-based ethics
Correct answer: Utilitarian ethics
Utilitarian ethics focuses on maximizing overall benefit, making it commonly applied in public health emergencies and resource allocation decisions.
Question 4: A hospital's ethics committee is best described as:
- A legal body with authority to override physician decisions
- A multidisciplinary group providing guidance on ethical dilemmas (Correct answer)
- A regulatory body responsible for compliance oversight
- A patient advocacy group with binding decision-making power
Correct answer: A multidisciplinary group providing guidance on ethical dilemmas
Ethics committees are advisory bodies composed of diverse stakeholders who provide guidance on complex ethical situations without overriding clinical authority.
Question 5: Which of the following is a key requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule?
- Providing patients with paper copies of their medical records
- Implementing administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for ePHI (Correct answer)
- Obtaining written consent before every clinical encounter
- Reporting all data breaches to the HHS within 24 hours
Correct answer: Implementing administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for ePHI
The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities to implement safeguards across three domains—administrative, physical, and technical—to protect electronic protected health information.
Question 6: A patient requests that information about their HIV status not be shared with family members. How should this request be handled?
- Honor the request; patients control disclosure of their own PHI (Correct answer)
- Inform the family anyway for their safety and well-being
- Consult legal counsel before any decision is made
- Override the request if family members are listed as emergency contacts
Correct answer: Honor the request; patients control disclosure of their own PHI
HIPAA grants patients the right to control how their protected health information is disclosed, including to family members.
Question 7: The concept of 'moral distress' in healthcare refers to:
- A patient's anxiety about a difficult diagnosis
- A clinician knowing the right action but being constrained from taking it (Correct answer)
- Ethical disagreements between physicians and patients
- Burnout caused by excessive workload
Correct answer: A clinician knowing the right action but being constrained from taking it
Moral distress occurs when a healthcare provider knows the ethically correct action but institutional, legal, or other constraints prevent them from acting accordingly.
CHL Healthcare Ethics and Regulations 3
Which document outlines a patient's wishes for end-of-life care if they become incapacitated?