• You are the director of health information services in a major medical center that maintains both a psychiatric andsubstance abuseunits in addition to general medical and surgical units. Your facility, under the direction of the CIO, plans to join a computer network with 15 hospitals throughout thestate, which will allow online access to laboratory data, regardless of which facility performed the lab work. None of the other 15 facilities offers psychiatric or substance abuse treatment, and you have been asked to provide HIM analysis as the subject matter expert.
• For the CIO, identify access and confidentiality issues that may be present with such a network in thelight of the statutory, regulatory, and accrediting requirements governing patients treated in these units. Furthermore, what specific organizational recommendation(s) would you make to the CIOto ensure she has considered specialized records in her support of the network for all departments, including the HIM department?