Which practice maintains patient confidentiality when documenting Needs Met Ratings?

• A. De-identify data for sharing
• B. Allow open access to patient records
• C. Store data on insecure servers
• D. Share personal identifying data with third parties without consent

Answer: (A)

Protecting patient privacy in documentation means removing or masking information that could identify someone. De-identifying data means stripping away names, dates, addresses, exact ages, and any detail that could link a record to a person, or replacing those identifiers with non-reidentifying codes. This allows you to analyze whether needs are met and share findings for quality improvement without exposing who is involved. The other practices would put confidentiality at risk: open access would let anyone view records, storing data on insecure servers invites breaches, and sharing personal identifiers with third parties without consent violates privacy protections. De-identification keeps confidentiality intact while still enabling useful review of Needs Met Ratings.