Today, technology is usually way ahead in every aspect of our world, especially with mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. All of these devices have photography and data transmission as well as storage capabilities. These functions, on mobile devices, present legal challenges and issues especially when it comes to compliance with HIPPA. While HIPPA regulations do describe how patient health information or PHI should be handled, to date, they have not been changed to specifically account for smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Laws and policies must be implemented to protect PHI on personal mobile devices. At the state level, the policymakers that will be contacted are Richard Corcoran, House Health Committee Chairman and Aaron
In his Modern Healthcare article, “HIPPA Hurdles”, author Joe Carlson exclaims his concern for the new rules set in HIPPA that will be put into place this month. HIPPA is a set of measures, and laws, that healthcare provider’s take to ensure they are “safeguarding” patient’s health information (Carlson 2013). Carlson is speaking up for most healthcare providers when he describes his distaste for these new provisions in the Omnibus HIPPA Final Rule. The main issue in these provisions states that providers will have to “Honor requests from patients to withhold sensitive records from insurance companies if the bills are paid out of pocket.” (Carlson 2013). He asserts that the reason this will become an issue is because no one has the technology to simply safeguard one hospital or doctor visit from insurers, and that their own technological programs compile everything together and make this request difficult. While this new rule may be helping out patients, it will be causing more hardships and possible punishments when the healthcare providers forget or are not able to do as the patient asks. By grabbing his audience’s attention through appealing to our logic and emotions, Carlson does succeed in informing us about these new concerns.
The HIPAA law dictates how our organization not only handles patient privacy and record keeping, but also how we handle patients’ request to view medical records for a variety of reasons. A patient in our organization requested to attain complete access to his records that include psychiatric records as well. Although the HIPAA law grants access to patients, there may be some crucial provisions that require special attention. I have done extensive research to provide our organization with the lawful protocols we must follow in order to protect our organization and our patient’s rights as well. HIPAA’s concise guidelines are what provide our organization and patient a clear stance on our responsibilities as well as limitations in the release
Healthcare technology has grown and evolved over time. With the conversion to electronic medical records and the creation of social media just to name a few, ensuring patient privacy is of the utmost importance for healthcare facilities in this day and age. In order for an organization to avoid hefty fines, it is imperative that a healthcare administrator maintains compliance with the standards and regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This paper will provide a summary
In the past, small medical offices were sometimes not as up on HIPAA as they should have been, but that has been changing. The Internet is helping to ensure that even small providers are up to speed on this vital piece of legislation that protects the privacy of their patients. Complying with it also protects their medical business. Here are a few ways small providers are working hard to comply with HIPAA:
If HIPAA policy information is included in a healthcare facility’s website it provides confidence to the patient that the PHI or protected health information will only be used when there is a clinical or business need for the information. By not being able to review the HIPAA policy for a facility on their website I have no idea what their policy is, what steps they use to prevent someone from sharing or accessing my information, or what to do if I think someone has violated my privacy.
HIPAA is the Health insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It became law in 1996. The original intent was to help employees change jobs and keep their health insurance by making their coverage portable. Later, on April 14, 2003 lawmakers broadened the law to include the Privacy Rule. Protected Health Information(PHI) is a HIPAA term, it includes all medical information of an individual. All patients health information is protected no matter what form it is in. PHI can be controlled in many forms such as backup disk or tapes, insurance statements, lab reports, prescription forms, patient form, email, etc. Five steps to comply with the Privacy Rule are:
HIPAA is a federal law that was passed in 1996. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
I have not directly worked in a medical record setting before. The exposure I do have as a customer service representative at a medical group is accessing patient’s demographics, eligibility, billing information for claims, and authorizations for future services/procedures.
HIPAA is an acronym that stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a US law designed to provide privacy standards to protect patients medical records, as well as other health information provided to Health Plans, Doctors, Hospitals, and other healthcare providers (Medicinenet.com, 2017). Developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, this program was designed to give patients better access to their medical records and more control and how those records are distributed.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act know as HIPAA, formally known as Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill, went into law in 1996. The purpose of HIPAA is to help people import and export their health insurance, and move their medical records from one healthcare company to another. HIPAA created a system to protect the privacy of people’s medical records. This process is time consuming but gives patients an additional level of security to their medical records.
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.
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.
A covered entity does not have to obtain a patients authorization for the above listed circumstances.
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
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