Problem
Gretchen McMasters, RHIA, is the director at Maple Heights Memorial hospital. Gretchen has a meeting today with Cynthia Robinson, CCS the lead coder. Cynthia is a very good coder and has the lead position by virtue of her years' experience. Gretchen's meeting with Cynthia today revolves around the findings of an internal investigation, which showed that Cynthia inappropriately accessed her neighbor's patient records. She had done this on multiple occasions. Cynthia had no rebuttal, as she had no reason beyond curiosity for looking at the records. Gretchen fires Cynthia for her breach of privacy. She tells her to clear out her desk and leave the hospital now. Gretchen plans to hold a staff meeting tomorrow to address privacy breaches.
• Refer to the previous scenario and assess Gretchen's handling of the lead coder's termination with a focus on how that interaction could have been handled in a more appropriate manner. Take into consideration aspects of risk management in your response. Evaluate the ethical responsibility that Gretchen has in this situation.