| Course | HI135 Legal Aspects of Health Information |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Privacy notice comparison |
| Length | About 800 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Information Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HI135 Unit 4
Five Promises on the Wall, Three Kept at the Desk: A Unit 4 Privacy Notice Comparison Holding a Composite Clinic's Posted Notice Against Its Registration Screen, Release Log and Billing Habits
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HI135: Legal Aspects of Health Information
Unit 4 Privacy Notice Comparison
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The clinic, its notice and its systems are composite; the rights described and the rules cited are real.
Sources Used
The clinic's notice, effective January 2024; a two-hour walkthrough of registration on a Monday morning; the release of information log for the past twelve months; and an interview with the billing supervisor. The notice is required to describe patients' rights and how to exercise them (45 C.F.R. § 164.520, 2024), so every right it describes is a promise the clinic can be held to.
The Comparison
Each row gives the promise quoted from the notice, the observed practice, the gap and the correction.
1. Promise: "You can ask us to contact you in a specific way, for example home or office phone, or to send mail to a different address. We will say yes to all reasonable requests." Practice: the registration screen holds one phone number and one address. A patient who asked last spring for calls only at her work number was entered with a note in a free-text field that the reminder system does not read. Her appointment reminders kept going to a shared home line. Gap: the clinic accepted the request and cannot honor it. Correction: add an alternate contact field that the reminder and billing systems both read; until then, flag such accounts for manual handling.
2. Promise: "You can ask for a list of the times we have shared your health information for six years prior to the date you ask." Practice: the release log records requests made with an authorization but not public health reports, which the laboratory sends electronically. Gap: public health disclosures must appear in an accounting, and the clinic could not produce a complete one (45 C.F.R. § 164.528, 2024). Correction: the laboratory sends a monthly extract of public health reports to the release log.
3. Promise: "You can ask for an electronic copy of your record." Practice: the release office offers paper or a portal printout; staff did not know the electronic health record can produce a summary file. Gap: when information is kept electronically and the patient asks for an electronic copy, the clinic must provide it in the form requested if readily producible, or in an agreed electronic format (45 C.F.R. § 164.524, 2024). Correction: train release staff on the export and offer it in writing.
4. Promise: "If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share that information with your health insurer." Practice: billing honored three such requests last year, but the system sent one claim anyway because the flag was set on the visit, not the order for a laboratory test the same day. Gap: one of three requests was broken. Correction: billing flags the whole encounter and confirms with the patient that all services were self-paid.
5. Promise: "You can complain if you feel we have violated your rights by contacting our privacy officer." Practice: the notice lists a privacy officer who left in August; the phone number reaches a general voicemail. Gap: a patient trying to complain cannot. Correction: update the notice and the web page, and route the number to the new officer.
Three of the five promises fail somewhere between the front desk and the billing system, not in the notice itself.
Gaps by Severity
The restriction failure ranks first. Sending a claim the patient paid for to avoid her insurer is the kind of disclosure the restriction right exists to prevent, and the clinic must honor such a request when the service is paid in full (45 C.F.R. § 164.522, 2024). The confidential communications gap ranks second, because it is happening to an identified patient now. The complaint contact ranks third because it is simple to fix and blocks every other remedy. The accounting and electronic copy gaps are real and lower in immediate harm.
Owners and Dates
1. Restriction flag: billing supervisor, two weeks.
2. Alternate contact field: practice manager with the system vendor, sixty days, manual flag from tomorrow.
3. Complaint contact: privacy officer, this week.
4. Public health extract: laboratory manager, thirty days.
5. Electronic copy training: release supervisor, thirty days.
Should the Notice or the Practice Change?
In every row, the practice should change. Each promise restates a right the rules give patients, so rewriting the notice to promise less is not an option. The comparison's value is in showing that a correct notice can sit on the wall while the systems behind it quietly break it.
References
45 C.F.R. § 164.520 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-164.520
45 C.F.R. § 164.522 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-164.522
45 C.F.R. § 164.524 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-164.524
45 C.F.R. § 164.528 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-164.528
The Purdue Global HI135 Unit 4 instructions
Unit 4 generally asks you to compare a facility's notice of privacy practices with how the facility actually operates. Quote each promise the notice makes about patients' rights, identify the evidence of practice, such as registration screens, logs or interviews, and describe any gap. Propose a correction for each gap and say who should own it. Rank gaps by severity, usually by the harm to patients. Decide in each case whether the notice or the practice should change. Some sections compare two facilities' notices instead. Describe gaps as differences between promise and practice and leave legal conclusions to the privacy officer. Many students set the rows out as a grid and follow it with a paragraph on each gap.
Inside the HI135 Unit 4 example
The comparison names its sources first: the notice, a registration walkthrough, a year of the release log and a billing interview. Five numbered rows follow the notice's order, each quoting the promise, describing practice, stating the gap and proposing a correction, from the alternate phone field to the departed privacy officer. A highlighted line observes that the failures sit between desk and billing system. A severity section ranks the broken self-pay restriction first, citing the restriction right, with a margin note on ranking by harm. Owners and dates follow, and a closing section explains why practice, not the notice, must change. The row on confidential communications traces one patient's request through the system that failed her.
Where the points sit in the HI135 Unit 4 rubric
Instructors grading this comparison usually reward evidence and specificity. Points go to quoting each promise accurately and pairing it with observed practice rather than assumptions. Credit increases for gaps described precisely, with corrections that a named owner could carry out. Ranking gaps by patient harm and justifying the order earns marks. Correct reference to the patient rights involved, such as confidential communications, restrictions and accounting, adds content credit. A clear decision about whether the notice or the practice should change shows understanding of the notice's legal role. Organization and APA citations complete the rubric. Comparisons that list promises without testing them lose points.
HI135 Unit 4 help: mistakes that cost points
Many comparisons simply restate the notice, with no evidence about practice. Find the screen, log or person that shows what actually happens. Another weakness is proposing to rewrite the notice to match weak practice, when the notice restates rights patients already have. Avoid calling gaps violations; describe them. Do not skip the rights that seem administrative, such as the complaint contact, since they enable everything else. Assign every correction to someone. If your section provides a notice and a scenario, send both and we will build the row-by-row comparison and ranked corrections. Finally, describe each gap as something a named person can fix by a date.
Get an HI135 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Your instructor may hand out a real facility's notice, a template, or two notices to compare. Forward that document, plus the Unit 4 instructions and rubric, and the custom comparison is built on its actual wording. The first sample is free and arrives within 24-48h, table and ranking included. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HI135 papers and BS in Health Information Management samples
- HI135 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- HI135 Unit 2: Authorization Review
- HI135 Unit 3: Release of Information Case
- HI135 Unit 5: Retention Schedule
- HI135 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- HI135 Unit 7: Amendment Response Letter
- HI135 Unit 8: Breach Notification Memo
- HI135 Unit 9: Disclosure Log Entry
- HI135 Unit 10: Privacy Policy Draft
HI135 Unit 4 questions, answered
Should the comparison say the facility is breaking the law?
Only with care, and usually not in those words. The example describes each gap as a difference between promise and practice and leaves legal conclusions to the privacy officer, since some gaps are wording problems rather than violations. If your rubric asks for a compliance judgment, tie it to the specific right involved and keep the claim as narrow as the evidence allows.
Where does the practice evidence come from in a class assignment?
Usually from the scenario itself, which describes the desk, the phones and the log in enough detail to test. Some sections invite observation at a workplace or at a clinic visited as a patient. Our version cites its composite sources by type, and if you use a real site, keep names and identifiers out and describe only what anyone waiting there could see.
How long is a typical privacy notice comparison?
Length follows the instructions, and sections differ widely, so the example avoids a fixed page count. What stays constant is proportion: the table carries most of the weight, gap paragraphs run a few sentences each, and the introduction stays short. A paper twice as long with the same number of rows usually spends the extra words restating the notice.
Where can I find a free HI135 Unit 4 sample paper?
The complete Unit 4 comparison, all five promises tested against practice with owners for each fix, is on this page.
Can a patient stop a clinic from telling their insurer about a visit?
Yes. When a patient settles the whole bill personally and requests it, the clinic may not send that service to the health plan for payment or operations.