Hipaa Violations And The Privacy Rule

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

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.

. 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

The penalties for violating the rules dictating by HIPAA are complicated because the guidelines are still very broad and the rules are still so new that with each case new standards are being set as to the way violations are being handled. Violation of HIPAA rules can result in civil and criminal consequences. There is case that marked history as the first health care organization to be fined for a HIPAA violation. Cignet Health in Maryland was fined $4.3 million for two violations: failure to provide patients a copy of their medical records within 60 days of a request and failure to cooperate with civil investigators. “HIPAA calls for civil and criminal penalties for privacy and security violations, including: -- fines up to $25K for multiple violations of the same standard in a calendar year -

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.

The primary goal of the Privacy Rule is to protect the individual’s health information from improper use and at the same time allowing the transfer of health information that will deliver and stimulate high quality health care. The Privacy Rule, affect health plans, health care clearinghouses, as well as health care provider who provide health information in electronic method in association with transactions for which the Secretary of HHS has adopted standards under HIPAA (HHS.gov, 2008).

All healthcare providers, health organizations, and government health plans that use, store, maintain, or transmit patient health care information are required to comply with the privacy regulations of the HIPAA

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

I know if an employee with our corporation violates the HIPPA law, we will lose our job. That is pretty much the bottom line. We have training, meeting when it comes to protecting and keeping health records

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 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.

What is HIPAA Compliance? HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act was created in 1996 by congress and signed by president Bill Clinton. It inspires systematization of medical data. HIPAA contains two rules which are privacy and security. HIPAA Security Rule conducts collections,transmittal, IT systems,and storage of electronic patient records. While HIPAA privacy rule controls paper records, HIPAA keeps medical information confidential and protects patient’s information from being put on social media or given to unknown people. Every medical company has devised it’s own standard for interpreting the HIPAA regulations.

Ten years ago after much challenges and questionable skepticism, the HIPAA policy became effective and has been shaping healthcare one regulatory policy at a time. The evolution of the HIPAA privacy act helped establish the HIPAA Security Rule which was published in 2003 and became effective in 2005, and then eventually led to the HIPAA Enforcement Rules and the Breach Notification Rule. With it joint fortification of the 2009 HITECH Act and HIPAA’s modifications to regulations, it was released in January 2013 to the industry (American Health Information Management Association, 2013).

A violation of HIPAA rule carries fines for breaches ranges between $100 to $50,000 per violation.

Then there are also the concerns of privacy issues. This is when HIPPA comes into effect. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulates the privacy of health information exchange. The HIPPA reduces health care fraud and abuse. It protects the privacy of all individual’s health information.