HIPAA Principles

In the last few decades there has been an undeniable surge in the mere volume of the storage and transmission of what is known as “e-PHI,” or, electronic patient health information, and with it came an inevitable increase in data breaches. In the United States, any person or organization that interacts with this sort of data needs to do so in a way that is compliant with a set of guidelines called HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). These guidelines are essentially a set of physical, technical, and administrative controls on sensitive patient data such as health records. The biggest failing of HIPAA is that it’s static. While HIPAA itself is an

We human beings have been gathering data since the dawn of mankind, whether it was in the form of pictures drawn on stones or in the form some text typed and saved on your computer.

Specific Purpose: I want to inform my audience about HIPAA “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act”.

(Dietrich, 2015), discussed that new regulations have caused many Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to become subject to patient health care data security rules under HIPAA. When providing consulting services to a healthcare organization or assisting with revenue cycle, CPAs should try to limit their liability by minimizing exposure to health care data and establish an engagement letter to ensure the healthcare organization is liable if patient health care data is unnecessarily provided to the CPA. Under HIPAA, electronic information must be protected during electronic exchange, technically protected against unauthorized access, and physically protected against unauthorized access

1. Mrs. Smith had a pregnancy test. Mr. Smith called Mrs. Smith’s physician and requested a copy of Mrs. Smith’s test results. Can/Should the physician release the results of the pregnancy test to Mr. Smith over the phone? (Use law and ethics to defend your answer) Why or why not?

The right to receive a notice of privacy practices - Patients have the right to receive a notice explaining how a provider or health plan uses and discloses their health information.

The HIPAA regulations define security as the health care providers are accountable for maintaining the confidentiality of individually identifiable health care information or the Patient Health Information(PHI). Excretion of the HIPAA Security Rule surrounds the following three vital shields for PHI in electronic form

Many healthcare professionals and organizations have not been following the regulations set forth by HIPAA. Whenever violations of HIPAA’s privacy or security laws occur the organizations responsible must be held accountable resulting in a fine or penalty. Penalties provide incentive for organizations to guarantee patient privacy and security. Recently, certain people have failed to follow through with the laws and restrictions and were forced to accept the penalty. This paper will provide three real examples of such HIPAA violations as well as solutions or ways each violation could have been prevented.

Poor data storage protection - need to understand where healthcare data exists when it is created, used, stored and communicated. When healthcare data flows inside and outside of a hospital to healthcare professionals, pharmacists and specialists it is easy to overlook where the data might end

Did you know that violating HIPAA can lead to criminal charges and even possible jail time? Also can cost you up to $1.5 million a year depending on the violation (Brown,2014). Violating HIPAA can be something as little as talking about the treatment of your patient that day to another nurse in the elevator. In this paper HIPAA will be defined and the importance of HIPAA in the health care system. As well as outcomes of what will happen if laws are violated. In addition, the scenario ending and what should happen to the nurse. Lastly, the advantages and disadvantages of cellphones and electronic devices in healthcare.

Even though hipaa violations are an important standard in preventing many individuals from causing several breaches of information from getting out, it is important to work on a strategies within several health care organizations that will work with the privacy rules regarding violation laws. “Jill Granger & Laura Cataldo (2013) reports When working in the healthcare setting, it is important to consult with the guidelines established by one's institution and to participate in any training programs to insure that the appropriate steps are being taken to maintain privacy. There are also a variety of additional resources available from the federal government and professional organizations to assist in the training process that may be especially

While I understand the need for both, I think that Congress should make HIPAA the law of the land with regards to medical privacy. Every individual’s rights and information should have the same level of protection no matter where in the United States they are located. Not only would a universal law help to eliminate the confusion between states, it would also remove a few of the barriers associated with universal healthcare. With better communication across state lines, patients will be able to send and receive information in a timely manner improving patient outcomes and quality.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or better known in the industry as HIPAA. When first introduced, the law was to help employees keep their health insurance while changing job due to one reason or another. Along with that, it sets standards for the exchange of patient information in electronic form. With these new privacy laws, clinics and hospitals could not longer share medical information with any random person. Under the law are that are called Covered Entities, which are required to keep the protected health information private. The law considers covered entities as: health plans, health care clearinghouse, health care providers, and insurance reimbursements information. What is not consider covered entities

Each policy that has been formulated and brought forth to legislation goes through its many challenges and analyzation before being implemented and becomes a policy and part of legislation. The statutes of HIPAA were brought forth and formulated in hopes of regulating covered entities and providing a type of universal protection of patient information and data. There is no doubt that the policy for HIPAA created skepticism about health privacy laws and the impact that it would have on the health care industry and its professionals.

One of the huge issues at the time of conception was the transition to electronic means of storage and transfer. At the time this technology was new, and not widely used as it is today. However with the implementation of HIPAA, it helped create a sense of trust and security that was not present before. By creating procedures to follow when storing and transferring information electronically, it educated many on how patient information was really being handled. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that HIPAA helped the adoption of electronic prescribing among physicians and other clinicians, overall adoption rates increasing from 5% to 18% (HIPAA: Impact). Essentially it helped usher in a new age of technology and assisted in its assimilation into the health industry, which provides far more convenience and utility than previous methods.