Misconceptions Regarding HIPAA Compliance And The Cloud

All Americans require assurance and protection measures to shield their daily lives and healthcare laws, government regulations, and approaches do only that. The United States government manages these requirements with the expectation of enhancing the strength of the general population while building up the tools, alongside resources and programs to associate in the conveyance of medical care services. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) alongside the security law have affected preventive care services and how it is conveyed. HIPAA was intended to guarantee that the suitable systems were actualized to protect patient's data while getting care.

Under the HIPAA compliance audit program if a healthcare organization has attested and is later audited and found not to be compliant with HIPAA, the organization could face penalties including giving back the meaningful use incentive money. (Goedert, 2013) provided the following ways to ensure compliance: conduct mock audits, make sure all data within the organization is encrypted, computer access is logged, network security gaps have been filled, policies and regulations have been updated and expanded, and most importantly that all staff complete annual HIPAA training courses with emphasis on privacy and security.

All healthcare providers, health organizations, and government health plans that use, store, maintain, or transmit patient health care information are required to comply with the privacy regulations of the HIPAA

Regulation placed upon the healthcare system only seek to improve safety and security of the patients we care for. The enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and the enactment of Meaningful Use Act the United States government has set strict regulations on the security of health information and has allotted for stricter penalties for non-compliance. The advancement of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought greater fluidity and compliance with healthcare but has also brought greater security risk of protected information. In order to ensure compliance with government standards organizations must adapt

HIPAA also assures continued improvement in the efficacy of electronic information system each year. These are accomplished by the rules of Title II: the Privacy Rule, the Transactions and Code Sets Rule, the Security Rule, the Unique Identifiers Rule, and the Enforcement Rule. (Jeffries, n.d)

The government has also ensured compliance with HIPAA by implementing the HIPAA audit. The focus on specific controls such topics as policies and procedures to ensure privacy, confidentiality of the PHI of patients and evaluation of the action plans of the violation of security. Other security measures, including background checks of employees, all internal restrictions on the availability of private information and physical security measures to determine if they comply with the guidelines established by the HIPAA

Most people have a basic understanding about HIPAA and what it entails, but for future healthcare leaders, it is a critical issue. The goals behind the HIPAA privacy rules are very beneficial for keeping individual’s health information private, but it does place a heavy burden on organizations to ensure the information remains protected. Healthcare leaders have always had to adapt to change, but it is becoming increasingly necessary to have leaders that can adapt quicker than ever. Not only do they need to keep up with the technological advances in healthcare, but they also need to become compliant with the new and ever-changing healthcare laws. Numerous modifications have been implemented under HIPAA in the

As electronic communications enhanced, the risks of fraud and misuse also increased. HI-TECH amendments to the HIPAA regulations were part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Now all business associates of the healthcare industry with access to patient Protected Health Information (PHI) is also required to be HIPAA compliant.

Ten years ago after much challenges and questionable skepticism, the HIPAA policy became effective and has been shaping healthcare one regulatory policy at a time. The evolution of the HIPAA privacy act helped establish the HIPAA Security Rule which was published in 2003 and became effective in 2005, and then eventually led to the HIPAA Enforcement Rules and the Breach Notification Rule. With it joint fortification of the 2009 HITECH Act and HIPAA’s modifications to regulations, it was released in January 2013 to the industry (American Health Information Management Association, 2013).

An important part of HIPAA is the minimum use standard, which mandates that healthcare providers use and disclose patient information in ways that are minimally necessary to accomplish the task. For example, a billing clerk does not need access to a patient?s entire medical history to bill for a service rendered, says Hole-Curry. Therefore, you may want to divide patient files into sections, having an office policy that clearly states who may access each section. Consider converting to pocket-style classification folders,

The HIPAA privacy rule requirements states that the entities and their associates must have administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the security, integrity, and confidentiality of a person’s health information.

3.) Under HIPAA, covered entities (healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouse) must comply with the privacy rules. A covered entity may develop its own privacy rules that would accommodate its own needs of protected health information (PHI) management but it most comply with the HIPAA guidelines. It is the responsibility of the entity to put in place a privacy official to oversee the policies, procedures and be on hand and available to be contacted in reference to the privacy rule. A patient should be given a privacy notice act at his/her health facility stating how their (PHI) is being used and to whom it will be shared. The covered entity should include in the notice their duty to assure the patients privacy as well as how and whom to contact if there is a complaint or they feel that their rights have been violated. As of 2009 the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) handles complaints that are made on privacy policies, procedure and practices of HIPAA covered entities.

One of HIPAA’s main objective was to help provide privacy for each and every individual’s health information. HIPAA is able to accomplish this with the use of PHI and special identifiers, as well as with the provision of permitted uses/disclosures and individual rights (HHS.gov, 2013a). Under HIPAA people’s health information is exclusive to only those who require access to perform their duty, such as doctors, nurses, administrative staff, medical supply companies, pharmacies, billing/coding companies, and more (Solove, 2013). Covered entities, such as health plans, health care providers, and health care clearinghouses are mandated to implement standards under HIPAA the Privacy Rule, if they conduct health information electronically

In enacting HIPAA, Congress mandated the establishment of Federal standards for the security of electronic protected health information (e-PHI). The purpose of the Security Rule is to ensure that every covered entity has implemented safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information. Standards for security are needed because there is a growth in the exchange of protected health information between covered entities as well as non-covered entities. (“Health Information Privacy,” n.d.).

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), is a set of standards for guarding sensitive patient data. Any establishment that has transactions using protected health information (PHI) will safeguard that all the required physical, network, and process security procedures are in place and fully followed (Whitman & Mattord, 2010). This would include anyone who provides treatment, payment and operations in healthcare. This would also include business associates and anyone with access to patient information and provides support in treatment, payment or operations (Whitman & Mattord, 2010). Any subcontractors, or business associates of business associates, are also held to this compliance (Whitman & Mattord, 2010). The HIPAA law and its parts have requirements for the transmittal, storage, and privacy of health care information. Within the area of information security, there are eighteen information security standards and come under three separate areas (What is HIPAA