Hipaa Violation and Prevention

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

This paper will be discussing on how HIPAA has changed the medical field. HIPAA also known as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, give examples on how it is applied to the clinical setting. This paper will discuss steps medical assistants take when applying HIPAA and how it protects patients and physicians.

In the 1990’s, it became apparent that the Consumer Protection Act was insufficient for the protection of patient’s electronic health information. For several years, plans developed, and the result was HIPAA, which was enacted in 1996. It took until 1999 to finalize the Privacy Rule. The following year, the Security Rule, Transactions and Code Sets Rule, and National Provider Identifier Rule were finalized. The required compliance date for the Security Rule was 4/20/2005 to allow providers the necessary time to put policies and procedures in place. In 2006, enforcement was enacted. It quickly became apparent that technology was advancing beyond the scope of the Security Rule, and in 2009, the HITECH Act was enacted to support the Security Rule. (Sayles, 2014)

Upon hearing the case on several violated privacy rules of HIPAA Act of 1996 by Cignet Health of Prince George’s County, MD (Cignet), the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found the accused guilty of breach of privacy. A civil money penalty (CMP) of $4.3 million was imposed on the company due to the violations identified by the Office of Civil Rights. This civil money penalty was the first one to be issued on any entity by the Department for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The amount of penalty imposed was determined by violation category and may increase if authorized by the HITECH Act section 13410(d). Cignet did not request a hearing when notified on the civil money penalty and therefore, its right to appeal against the imposed penalty is no longer viable.

There are many legal and ethical issues that come with working in the health care sector. In order to protect the public the government often places many laws to protect the information and privacy of patients from being misused. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA as it is known is such law that was implemented in order to maintain the security and privacy of patients. The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for individually identifiable health information held by covered entities and their business associates and gives patients an array of rights with respect to that information. The Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of health information needed for patient care and other important purposes. The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for covered entities and their business associates to use to assure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (www.hhs.gov., n.d.). The health care administrators of today are charged with keeping up with the many compliance and regulations associated with the HIPAA privacy act. The legal and ethical responsibilities that come with their roles are a difficult one. Administrators must aide in safeguarding patient’s information and stay within the guidelines and regulations as directed by the governing bodies that enforce these rules. With this in mind we must also examine the role of

This paper is about the changes in the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules and its impact on the health care industry, this paper will show how the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is increasingly modifying the Act to match the technological advancements within the health arena. The paper will also elaborate on some of the consequences of violating HIPAA and some case examples are cited in this paper. The last section of this paper enumerates how this course has allowed me to reflect on the Benedictine Hallmarks of Conversatio which hinges on forming and transforming oneself. Finally, an informed conclusion is drawn from my research on the consequences of violating HIPAA in the healthcare industry.

When it comes to health care, one of patients’ primary concerns is the protection of their private information. It is for this reason that Congress created the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA affects nearly all communication between patients, providers, payers, and intermediates such as pharmacies (Fremgen, 2012). Physicians may need to refer a patient to another practice for tests or further treatment. At any time, a patient has the right to request copies of his or her medical records. To collect payment for services, a clinic may need to provide an insurance company with the patient’s diagnosis. Staff must also cooperate when circumstances unrelated to patient care require the release of confidential information. It is critical that staff avoids confusion and properly implements the privacy policy. Medical personnel must exercise caution when communicating patient information, be familiar with special circumstances, and not misinterpret the privacy laws to the detriment of patients and other involved parties.

Concerns about patient confidentiality in the age of e-medicine motivated Congress to pass the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Organizations "must put in place safeguards to protect" patient information, such as encrypting patient data that is stored online and they "must reasonably limit uses and disclosures to the minimum necessary to accomplish their intended purpose" (For consumers, 2012, Health information privacy). Organizations must train employees how to follow appropriate procedures to protect patient heath information and ensure that they have contracts with outside entities to limit the inappropriate use of patient data. "A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to assure that individuals' health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public's health and well being" (Summary of the HIPAA privacy rule, 2012, HHS).

Regulations are established to expand the effectiveness and efficacy of the healthcare organization. One of biggest health care issue among the system is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations. It was passed by the Congress in 1996. Mandating this rule serves several purposes to all individuals for privacy and security. This includes all information that is verbal, written, or electronic. The Privacy Rule is the protection health information (PHI) of a patient and it cannot be disclosed without patient’s written authorization (Schulman, 2005). The Security Rule is emphasized on administrative, technical and physical safeguards specifically for electronic protection health information from unapproved access (Schulman, 2005).

The leader of Lakeview Medical Center did not preserve the rights of Mrs. Henry. However, due to the critical issues and concerns of privacy and confidentiality being broken Mrs. Henry need to proceed with legal actions. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) was implemented to protect individual like Mrs. Henry from being violated. For the most part, quality within all health facilities is communicating information among health systems and professionals on the needed basics. Although maintaining privacy within an organization may be difficult it’s up to the leaders and staff of the organization to make sure security is being maintained. Furthermore, a breach of a patient’s health information can be a serious offense.

government has stepped in to protect patient privacy was by creating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. HIPAA puts the responsibility of protecting health information for electronic records on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and although standards and requirements for the transmission of health information via electronics are established through HIPAA, “it does not specify what type of security mechanism” must be put in place (Luo). Still, improvements to the legislation have been made by the HITECH Act added in 2009 as can be seen through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the government group in charge of HIPAA, which says that the maximum penalty for each identical violation is $1.5 million (“HITECH Act…”). With fines set in place for violations of HIPAA, the persons or groups responsible for maintaining the regulations of HIPAA are given a heavy monetary punishment that would shut down any ideas of selling or releasing patient information and create a reason for going through with protecting the privacy of patients. In any case, a fine should be kept on violations of patient privacy to give persons or groups a valid reason not to violate their

The protection of personalized data has been a major concern for insurers across the United States for many years. This concern has continued to grow due to an increase in the number of data breaches across all industries regarding medical health information. The passage of federal laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as well as the passage of a variety of state legislation related to privacy breaches has changed the way in which firms deal with these issues, (Gatzlaff & McCullough, 2012). During this research, there was a collection of data that connected to the instances of HIPAA violations within the United States. There are various cases that have been reported through patients and employees where very personal medical information has been exposed unlawfully for personal gain. These cases have not only put a company at reputational risk. But these cases can also place a patient and or healthcare company in a terrible financial stipulation. This thesis will include a series of charts and tables that describe the fluctuation of such cases involving different examples of HIPAA violations. Not only will there be data of these instances but there will be illustrations of how both patients and healthcare employees exemplify HIPAA violations. These cases will be verified from an external and internal evaluation. Suggestive protocol will be demonstrated to guide one along to ensure the possibility of another case of HIPAA violation is prevented.

The healthcare industry is more likely to have a deeper-level of compliance when it relates to information assurance policies. The employees and various different organizations within the healthcare realm are held to a much higher standard of compliance because they mostly deal with sensitive and private medical and health information. The healthcare industry falls under the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA act of 1996), which helps to simplify and protect health information when it is being transferred digitally between organizations or verbally communicated to an individual or multiple individuals. The reason this industry has been held to a deeper-level of compliance is because medical records and information are accessed and/or transmitted more than any other type of

Today, if such confidentiality is broken, it is taken to legal matters. In 1996, the HIPPA act was passed which foundation is based on medical privacy and security. More than anything, it strives to make electronic health care systems more secure by protecting patients from fraud and violation of privacy.

As a patient advocate, we need to make sure that the patient understands HIPAA forms and ensure that they are easy to understand and use. As nurses, we are work to provide the best care we can for our patients. I believe that this article did a great job of laying out what HIPAA was and different aspects of the act that apply to the patients directly. The author does a good job of depicting situations that make patient confidentiality violated but also supplying ways to help avoid violations and successfully carry out HIPAA