Administrative Ethics- HIPAA HCS/335- Health Care Ethics and Social Responsibility Ruth Bundy September 26, 2011 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA was introduced to the House of Representative in 1996. HIPAA was a huge piece of legislation that was intended to fix many aspects of health care and health insurance, and includes sections that ensure portability of health insurance, simplify the administration of health insurance coverage, and standardize electronic transactions between health care providers and insurance companies. This is also the law that sets up Medical Savings Accounts and requires insurers to cover patients with pre-existing conditions. The section of HIPAA that concerns …show more content…
According to the HIPAA laws you could not find your loved one. Without going to each facility just to see if your family member is even there. This is the worst case scenario. HIPAA has been placed to protect the identities of patient’s and to make sure that only the right people knew our personal and medical information. HIPAA affects every person and every culture. Anytime a person goes to a medical facility he or she are asked to sign papers with personal information giving that facility permission to allow anyone access to their location and other personal and valuable info. Speaking of a patient as a staff member about someone using their name without permission is illegal and could cost him or her jobs, possible jail time and huge fines. Medical facilities spend millions of dollars in education on new employees to teach them that HIPAA is a federal law and the medical facility is responsible for mandating the rules within the HIPAA regulations. It is important to note these rules and regulations that HIPAA has set up are for the protection of the patient and not designed to make things worse. Working for a hospital it is easy to see that patients do not quite understand the importance of HIPAA and are the first ones to dies credit it. They do not understand that the rule HIPAA has placed is not to make their visit an unpleasant one and that it has been placed there for their protection. Suppose you have been diagnosed with a life threading disease and
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was established in 1996. This Act was put into place in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system. The HIPAA law includes a Privacy
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
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.
In 1996, the HIPPA act was passed. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which was directed to improve the areas in the health field. For instance, lowering the number of errors and mistreatment, for individuals to have the access to transfer health coverage according to their present situation, and most importantly it monitors security and confidentiality information to ensure its being controlled in an accurate manner. This act gives congress ability to govern financial matter such as, federal level funding processes pertaining to different health documentation. Providing quality care while protecting patient’s information is a priority controlled under HIPAA, which accepts collaboration with all state and federal
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 to set a national standard to protect medical records and other personal health information. The primary goal of HIPAA is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative cost.
The protection and privacy of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) which became law in ,1996. Subtitle F of Title II of HIPAA, entitled "Administrative Simplification, "requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to adopt national standards for certain information- related activities of the health care industry. This law works to make the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system by mandating the development of standards and requirements to enable
What provisions apply? When patients go to the Emergency Room, the patient registration staff always comes in and makes sure all patient demographics are correct along with the insurance information. After, everything is verified the patient signs a HIPAA privacy authorization form, which you decide if you want to disclose your personal records. When I sign I usually initial 3 parts of the form and sign at the bottom. I think it is great that we sign every time, because it protects you, and no body wants their medical records disclosed to the general public.
What the HIPAA law states. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that was enacted in 1996 establishing safeguards and rules to protect patients demographics and medical records. These rules limit the circumstances of how health records are used or obtained without the patient's authorization. HIPAA has set national standards that require these safeguards to maintain the attainability of health records and keeping them classified. This rule applies to any institutional and noninstitutional providers and only a written authorization by the patient will allow any use of their health records be disclosed.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA was passed by Congress in 1996 to provide the ability to transfer and continue health insurance coverage for workers as well as their families after changing or losing their jobs. As a result, new patients are required to fill HIPAA compliant forms while existing patients should update their information on a regular basis. Documenting and maintaining the HIPAA forms properly ensures that healthcare providers focus more on other aspects of their practice.
Personal health information includes a patient’s name, address, birthdate and social security number. It also includes a person’s health or mental status whether it is in the past, present or future. HIPAA gives people the right to have access to their medical records. It also states that people have the right to either give consent or deny consent of their information being shared or released. All health care facilities, insurance companies, pharmacies, vision, and dental offices must adhere to the HIPAA guidelines. Though patients have a right to their information being kept confidential, their information may be shared for necessity in regards to treatment, billing, to protect the public health, and if the law requires disclosure. Penalties are set in place for violations of the HIPAA laws ("HIPAA summary,"
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act also known as HIPAA was first signed into law on the federal level in 1996. Since it was signed into law it has had a huge effect on patient’s privacy, healthcare workers and even insurance company’s. “HIPAA is intended to improve efficiency throughout health care and requires that health care providers adhere to standardized national privacy and confidentiality protections.” (OMA p .236). It’s an invaluable tool that has created a standard of compliance across the healthcare field.
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
HIPAA is primarily focused on the technology and safety standards that apply to all exchanges of confidential information through electronic patient electronic medical records (EMR).
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.