Pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona, are bound by similar reporting laws as most pediatric doctors across the United States. While these pediatric doctors routinely see sick children in their offices, they may also see children who are victims of abuse or neglect, or children whose health concerns may be part of a wider, serious threat to public health and safety. Reporting laws exist to benefit public health as well as protect vulnerable children.
Pediatric doctors see patients for numerous reasons and may discover a reportable issue while treating their clients. When sick children come in for bumps, bruises, and other injuries, it is usually not cause for concern, but if pediatric doctors have reason to believe that these children have been subject to physical abuse, violence, or neglect, they are required to report it.
Pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona are also required to report any other type of suspected abuse, including verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse. For pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona, reporting comes in the form of disclosing information to a health authority or government agency that handles such cases. Sick children who come in for illnesses are usually not suffering from anything reportable, but in some cases, a public health and safety report must be made.
Pediatric doctors treating sick children with some types of communicable diseases are also required to file reports. Some reports must be made about the specific case, while others require just an overview of total number of cases seen. Some communicable diseases pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona must report include chickenpox, diphtheria, hepatitis A, B, and C, flu-related deaths in infants, Lyme disease, measles, mumps, pertussis, rubella, smallpox, tetanus, and tuberculosis. This allows health professionals to work on things like immunization programming and contact tracing to ensure that the illnesses are less likely to spread.
It is safe to say that pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona take patient privacy very seriously and would not share a patient’s health records or other information unless there was a clear need to do so. Pediatricians in Phoenix, Arizona are not exempt from federal or state reporting laws, however, so there is a small chance that some health information can be shared with specific agencies and organizations. If information does need to be reported it is handled with the utmost care, with as much confidentiality as possible.
