In your own words describe the meaning of the Patients’ Bill of Rights.  Currently there is no universal Patients’ Bill of Rights, but many facilities have adopted their own set of Patients’ Rights and Responsibilities based on the Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities that was adopted by the US Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry in 1998.

For this discussion, read the Patients’ Bill of Rights presented by Healthsource Global Staffing to all of their employees.

There are eight key areas of the Patients’ Bill of Rights:

• Information for patients
• Choice of providers and plans
• Access to emergency services
• Taking part in treatment decisions
• Respect and non-discrimination
• Confidentiality (And privacy) of health information
• Complaints and appeals
• Consumer responsibilities

In your response:

1. Rank order the eight areas in terms of which area you think is most important (1) through which area you think is least important (8).
2. Review your top three areas and discuss what modifications you would make in these areas based on changes that have taken place in the healthcare system since this list was adopted in 1998.
3. Identify any provisions or areas that you believe should be included that are not addressed in this list of Patient’s Rights. For example, consider some of the patient’s rights and responsibilities afforded to patients as part of the Affordable Care Act

Use APA formatting and citation standards. Use at least two (2) scholarly references published within the last 5 years to substantiate your work.