HIPAA Summary And Analysis

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.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) is a national act that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The Act was meant to establish standards that are to be applied nationally in dealing with the medical records and also other personal health care information by all the stakeholders. The rule calls for proper care in disseminating medical health information and sets minimum requirements that must be adhered to before the documents can be transmitted. It also set the scope of information that can be distributed without prior authorization by the patient. This rule gives the patient power to access medical information and allow them even to make copies as per their needs. HIPAA facilitates health

. HIPAA privacy rules are complicated and extensive, and set forth guidelines to be followed by health care providers and other covered entities such as insurance carriers and by consumers. HIPAA is very specific in its requirements regarding the release of information, but is not as specific when it comes to the manner in which training and policies are developed and delivered within the health care industry. This paper will discuss how HIPAA affects a patient's access to their medical records, how and under what circumstances personal health information can be released to other entities for purposes

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?

HIPAA, what is it? It is privacy, control, and peace of mind. You have the right for your medical information to be kept confidential. You have the right to decide whether or not family members are privy to your medical information. If you are changing jobs, why worry about health insurance coverage. Picture this. A woman called a local hospital and inquired about the condition of a patient. She was informed by the nurse that the patient was on a ventilator and could not talk. Even though interaction seems perfectly harmless, it was actually a clear violation of the privacy of the patient. A prescription for a local analgesic was presented to the pharmacist for a patient with a name similar to a patient already on file. The prescription was filled for the current patient who was actually the father, and not the patient. The pharmacist assumed that the patient was the father and shared with the patient that there was another medication that he had filled for you and asked, “Would you also like to pick up that medication also”? The father was not present and therefore could not object to the sharing of this information with the son. In the past, if you had a preexisting disease such as chronic fatigue or pregnancy, you could be denied health care coverage. Because Congress stepped in to assist and fix the healthcare system, denial of insurance because of a preexisting disease is not accepted. In view of this significant law, this paper will

(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

The main goal of HIPAA is to protect unauthorized access and misuse of confidential health information. It allows for the safe storage of any health facts used, collected, transmitted or maintained by any health organization. It states that all health information about a particular client is completely confidential, regardless of what the format is and whether it is transmitted, maintained or collected. Protected information is that health information that already identifies the patient or could be used in order to identify the patient; it also relates to any of the patient’s past, present or future health conditions, any treatment the patient receives and any payment the patient makes toward their care.

Thesis: Three things that every patient should new about HIPAA; what is HIPAA, Privacy regulations, and sanctions of violations

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.

HIPAA has benefitted the general public in many ways, such as protect the privacy, confidentiality, and security of patient information. Healthcare provider cannot shire patient information between them. Patients and clients give permission healthcare provider to shire the information. Patient has right to see, copy and correct his or her medical record. Polies and procedures created that all patients and providers must follow HIPAA rules, and how whoever violated may be punished. Most facilities have username and password that patient information can be viewed with someone who has permission. Also HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families

We never stop worrying about our children’s health—be they five or fifty. However, once our children turn eighteen, we as parents no longer have the right to receive their medical information – regardless if they are covered under our health insurance and even if we happen to be footing the bill!

The Privacy Rule enacted by the Department of Health and Human Services apply to all HIPAA covered entities such as health plans, health clearinghouses, insurance companies, business associates, and to any healthcare provider who transmits health information in electronic form. (Summary of the HIPPA Security Rule, 2015) Health Plans which are typically group plans that provide and/or pay for the cost of medical services are covered entities that must comply with privacy regulations. Exceptions for Health Plans may include group health plans that contain less than 50 participants and certain types of government funded programs. (Summary of the HIPPA Security Rule, 2015)

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.

We both answered question two but your policies are more in-depth than mine in terms of policy specifics. The only suggestion I would have is in relation to your access, security, and confidentiality policies for Southeast facilities. The HIPAA policies for security are highly generalized so it becomes the job of the facility to take that policy and go above standards to fit each setting. A good security measure would be staff key card entry points in secure areas of facilities. Another security measure could be individualized employee authentication on company computers.