Ehr/275 Week 3 Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the electronic health record mandate. Who started it and when? I will discuss the goals of the mandate. I will discussion will how the Affordable Care Act ties into the mandate of Electronic Health Record. It will describe my own facility’s EHR and what steps are been taken to implement it. I will describe the term “meaningful use,” and it will discuss possible threats to patient confidentiality and the what’s being done by my facility to prevent Health Information and Portability Accountability Act or HIPAA violations.

Typically, HIPAA regulations cover both security and privacy of protected health information. Security and privacy are dissimilar, but go hand-in-hand. The Privacy rule emphasizes the right of an individual to control the use of his or her personal information. Protected health information (PHI) should not be disclosed or used by others against their wishes. The Privacy rule covers the confidentiality of PHI in all formats including electronic, paper, and oral (Sullivan, 2014). Privacy is a promise that the information will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. The somatic security of PHI in all systems is an element of the Privacy rule. The Security rule concentrates on administrative, technical, and physical safeguards since they relate to electronic PHI (ePHI) (Koontz, 2012). Protection of ePHI data from unapproved access, whether external or internal, stored or in transit, is included in the security rule. Health care providers for example, transmit health information electronically, through clearinghouses, and health plans are all protected by the Privacy Rule (Koontz, 2012). The Security Rule is exclusive to electronic PHI. It should be notated, that electronic PHI also incorporates telephone voice response and faxback systems since they are utilized as input and output devices for computers. However,

Lately I have been hearing a lot about security of patient’s health records and how people are losing their jobs behind accessing information that they have no need to be in. It got me to wondering just how secure our personal information is from prying eyes and how who is alerted when these prying eye are in information that doesn’t concern them. So, when I ran across this article “Security Audits of Electronic Health Information” and “HIPAA Security Rule Overview” it caught my eye and curiosity on how they might work hand in hand when it comes to protecting what information is accessed by personnel. So, I choose these articles to get more information on this topic.

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made it illegal to gain access to personal medical information for any reasons other than health care delivery, operations, and reimbursements” (Shi &ump; Singh, 2008, p. 166). “HIPAA legislation mandated strict controls on the transfer of personally identifiable health data between two entities, provisions for disclosure of protected information, and criminal penalties for violation” (Clayton 2001). “HIPAA also has privacy requirements that govern disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) placed in the medical record by physicians, nurses, and other health care providers” (Buck, 2011). Always remember conversations about a patient’s health care or

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was intricately designed to provide not only a more efficient health care system but also as a protection for private patient information and data. With the widespread use of technology and computers in hospitals, the availability of patient information, their health portfolio, and their previous care has greatly improved the efficiency of health care. However, this also means that there is greater leeway for that information to be lost and/or shared without patients consent.

In order to minimize the risks for potential privacy breaches, the health information management (HIM) director has to understand all facets of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This should include conducting an audit of their practices. In this scenario, an audit would have been useful to detect the improper access by the employee sooner. HIPAA uses both its privacy and security regulations to “protect consumer’s health information, allow consumers greater access and control to such information, enhance health care, and finally to create a national framework for health care privacy protection” (Amaguin, n.d.). These privacy and security regulations serve as the “only national set of regulations that governs

HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.

HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as, notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.

Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the protection of patient’s private health information. It’s very pertinent to the patients that their personal information is being kept privately away from unauthorized viewers. Patients are allowed to have access to their own health records if they request them. Workers that has access to protected health information are required by law to secure all information in a file and not share with anyone any information that is not relevant to them. You should always know whom to disclosed the proper protected health information to when necessary. There are safeguards that can help with ensuring the security and protection of the protected health information, while the information is being transmitted or stored in its proper place.

The significance of patient privacy and the security of confidential information are increasingly vital given the approval of electronic health records. Healthcare providers have recognized striking prices due to security threats and subsequent breaches. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002), under the Privacy Rule healthcare establishments must establish protections that establish procedures and rules that guarantee least levels of privacy in relation to patient information. When violations are recognized, it is required that a compliant be created by the individual or unit experiencing the violation. In the complaint, the name of the person who participated in the violation, in addition to the nature of the violation, must be comprehensive. The filing of the complaint initiates an investigation by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA values (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The establishment of a procedure related to privacy violations has resulted in many cases relating to electronic data breaches. Next is a consideration of two such cases to demonstrate the role of privacy in regards to HIPAA and electronic health database breaches.

It is essential that health care researchers and/or managers abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) before sharing any patient health information to the public. The Privacy Rule under HIPPA will permit the sharing of health information without patient permission for payment, treating, and health care operations, and other specified purposes (Koontz, 2015). In addition, the Security Rule under HIPPA is designed to ensure that patient health information is protected from the unauthorized disclosure and access (Koontz, 2015). After all, the increase in health information technology makes it easier for researchers to obtain patient health data (Largent, Joffe, & Miller, 2011). However, the health care researcher

Under the HIPAA Security Rule, health care providers are required to conduct an accurate and thorough analysis of the potential risks and vulnerabilities. Protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy of data in health care is very important. For a risk analysis, health care providers would prioritize risks based on the severity of the impact that it would cause their patients and practices (Security Risk Analysis TipSheet, 2014). In addition, identifying the potential threats to patient privacy and security (Security Risk Analysis TipSheet, 2014). A risk analysis process would include determining the likelihood and impact of potential risk to electronic protected health information, implementing security measures to

HIPAA is best known for the Privacy Rule but also includes the Security Rule which applies to electronic health care information. “Whereas the Privacy Rule defines the circumstances in which individual health care information may be disclosed, the Security Rule defines the requirements for making such disclosures in electronic form” (Karasz, Eiden, & Bogan, 2013). All electronic forms of communication risk things such as hackers, accidently sending messages or emails to the wrong recipient, loss of data, and more.

Peel’s interpretation of the HIPAA regulation is that “HIPAA does not protect privacy” (Peel, 2014). She explains that health data is continuously being bought and sold between multiple different agencies and that data breaches are due to a policy problem and not a technology problem (Peel, 2014). This stance on the lack of privacy and security under HIPAA is an accurate point of view. Amendments to the HIPAA in 2002 included eliminating required consent for PHI disclosure, changing the policy for obtaining patient consent allowing for the free oral communication between doctors to discuss patients’ PHI, clarifying the current physician’s discretion to provide or deny access to children’s health records, restricting PHI for marketing purposes or use by parties not directly involved in patient care, and provisions for providers regarding billing and business practices (Norman, & Burroughs, 2002, p. 865-866). These amendments that eliminate the need for patient consent further degrade the lack of protection of PHI. Dr. Peel challenges the medical community to expose the continuous transfer of vital patient records between third party corporations in an attempt to draw attention and make a positive change toward proper security of patient’s

The department of Health and Human Services protects and guides the health and well being of individuals here in America (Thacker, 2014). They fulfill these duties providing Americans with adequate and efficient health and human services and monitoring services designed to increase the efficiency of care in the health system (Thacker, 2014). One of the services being monitored by the department of Health and Human Services is the electronic health record system, which carries private and vital information of patient’s health record enabling all eligible participating health workers access to these records (Thacker, 2014). A breach of the protective health information of patients in a health organization creates chaos as these are against the health insurance portability and accountability (HIPAA) law (Thacker, 2014). Hence, measure will have to be put in place to determine what caused the breach and how to rectify it to ensure the breach never happens again (Thacker, 2014).