Health Insurance Portability Act Of 1996 Research Paper

HIPAA Security Rule and Privacy Rule The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a set of national standards created for the protection of health information; it is also known as a “Privacy Rule”. This rule was employed in 1996 by the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to address the use and disclosure of an individual’s health information as well as the standards for the individual’s privacy rights to understand and control the manner in which their information is used.

US Congress created the Hipaa bill in 1996 because of public concern of how their private information was being used. It is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which Congress created to protect confidentiality, privacy and security of patient information. It was also for health care documents to be passed electronically. Hipaa is a privacy rule, which gives patients control over their health information. Patients have to give permission any healthcare provider can disclose any information placed in the individual’s medical records. It helps limit protected health information (PHI) to minimize the chance of inappropriate disclosure. It establishes national-level standards that healthcare providers must comply with and strictly investigates compliance related issues while holding violators to civil or criminal penalties if they violate the privacy of a person’s PHI. Hipaa also has boundaries for using and disclosing health records by covered entities; a healthcare provider, health plan, and healthcare clearinghouse. It also supports the cause of disclosing PHI without a person’s consent for individual healthcare needs, public benefit and national interests. The portability part of Hipaa guarantees patients health insurance to employees after losing a job, making sure health insurance providers can’t discriminate against people because of health status or pre-existing condition, and keeps their files safe while being sent electronically. The Privacy

HIPAA Privacy Rule In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as “HIPAA.” HIPAA establishes national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal

HIPAA (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996), outlines rules, 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.

Another law and regulation currently faced by the Center for Disease Control is Health Information Privacy (HIPAA). "The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for personal health information held by covered entities and gives patients an array of rights with respect to that information" (US Department of Health and Human Services). All of us believe our medical and other health information is private. Most of us believe our health information should be protected. We want to know who has that information. The privacy gives a person rights over his health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at it. This is a federal law. Health plans and most health care providers must follow these laws. There are organizations that do not have to follow the Privacy and Security Rules. Those organizations include life insurers, employers, many schools, school districts, and many law enforcement agencies. Other organizations are included.

HIPAA is a public federal law gives patients a legal right to keep their health information private and secure, but it also allows healthcare providers to disclose patient information for patient care, as needed (Iron Mountain, 2015). HIPAA included provisions that required the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to adopt national standards for electronic health care transactions, unique patient identifiers, and security (Ong, 2011). Being aware that advances in electronic technology would risk the privacy of health information, Congress also included provisions that mandated privacy protections for individually identifiable health information. HIPAA is the first government mandate that regulates how healthcare providers share

HIPPA- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, this act establishes national standards to protect Individual medical records and health information. The HIPAA regulations apply to the following entities: health care providers who transmit any health information electronically, health plans (including Medicare and Medicaid programs), and health care clearinghouses. These security standards are implemented to protect Personal Health Information (PHI) that is either stored or transmitted electronically. Use of Internet and electronic devices to store this PHI creates new vulnerabilities; all such risks are to be eliminated stands as a major objective of HIPPA security compliances

The Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), was put in effect to help maintain the confidentiality of individuals in certain settings. The summary of the HIPPA Security Rule goes through the key elements of who is covered, what information is protected, and what safeguards must be in place to ensure appropriate protection of electronic protected health information.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) affects every aspect of health care from patient privacy to insurance coverage. The federal act was first passed in 1996, yet the first major rule did not go into effect until 2003, protecting patient privacy. HIPAA ultimately came into effect due to the issues regarding patient privacy, security and coverage. Another major concern for both health care workers and the public was the exchange of patient information from one facility to another. Until the relatively recent decision to enforce HIPAA, a patient’s medical record was primarily recorded and maintained on paper and stored in locked cabinets or drawers. Not only was this method inefficient, but patients

Picture a world where anyone can access anyone’s personal medical records. Over a million people live in the United States of America, and with that type of power you can bet that the country would be corrupt. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is there to prevent such events happening. HIPAA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was implemented to help serve the people and keep information safe. Originally it started out as a way to ensure that Americans going between jobs would still be covered by their insurance companies. Since then the act has came a long way in protecting the American citizens. It prevented the use of medical records for the open public. This prevented the unauthorized use of

Introduction Release or not to release is the question in today’s healthcare? Being a patient, and going to a doctor’s appointment has really changed versus how it was years ago. Most of us as patients know that we have a right to our own health information, but how is this beneficial to us as patients and healthcare providers? As healthcare is increasingly becoming complex what are ways to enforce these policies and rules? HIPAA rules and standards will need to be the same in each state so there is interoperability the proper way, but will we be able to really accomplish this? This paper will discuss these aspects and ways to overcome these obstacles that are occurring.

“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 & 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 treatment is a violation of HIPAA. “All PHI is included in the privacy requirements for example: the patient’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition; the provision of health care to the individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual” (Buck, 2011). Other identifiable health information would be the patient’s name, address, birth date and Social Security Number (Keomouangchanh, 2011). (Word count 197)

HIPAA ACT Summary of the Act The Health insurance portability and accountability act or HIPAA act was put in place in 1996. Since then rules and regulations have been added to the HIPPA act but the main purpose of it is the same. The HIPAA act was put in place to fix issues related to healthcare, privacy concerns, and help people keep health insurance coverage between jobs. HIPPA is broken down into two main parts or titles; Title I: Health care access, portability and renewability privacy rules and Title II : Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse, Administrative Simplification, Medical Liability Reform.

No matter what type of business when it comes time to sell there are necessary considerations. Medical practices have three unique elements calling attention to practices today. The first is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) enacted in 1996, second the passage of the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 and third, healthcare is a labor intensive business sector with highly skilled and a highly paid workforce.

The HIPAA is based on privacy and requires safeguards to be implemented to protect the privacy of electronic information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), also known as Kassebaum–Kennedy, after the senators who wrote the bill, passed in 1996 to assist individuals buying and keeping health insurance (portability), even when they have severe health situations, and sets the basic requirements. Due to the fact that individual states can modify and develop requirements, the individual protections do vary by state. This act broadened the laws to embrace stringent guidelines for privacy and security of health information and provides people additional oversight of how their health information is utilized. The privacy/security procedures within HIPAA oversee the use, disclosure, and handling of any identifiable patient information by covered healthcare providers. Since this scenario is for a hospital, the new HIPAA Omnibus rule, which has been effective since March 26th, 2013, makes the guidelines more difficult, and the consequences of non-compliance more expensive. Furthermore, there are some major alterations for a medical provider, or user, of public