How Hipaa Violations Affect the Medical Billing Process

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 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

When confidential patient information is disclosed without consent it is a violation of the HIPAA Title II Security Rule. This rule was enacted in response to private information being leaked to the news and emails containing privileged information were read by unauthorized people. Identity theft is a real concern so patient privacy should be taken seriously. This is a rule can easily be broken without the

The AIDS epidemic began in the early to mid-1980’s and since it’s recognition in America it has become a very heated and debated topic among health professionals, the gay community, and most of all for the ones that are carrying the virus. The real debate is not over the virus itself but, rather about the infected individuals and whether or not they should be made morally obligated to tell their sexual partners if they are in fact infected. Both sides of the argument make very valid points. From one standpoint you have the gay community that believe in “safer sex ethic”, which keeps their partners in the dark about their overall health status and feel they are not morally obligated to tell their

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.

Prior to HIPAA becoming a legislation, patient’s medical records was disclosed without their permission to lenders and outside providers from their treatment team. Privacy Rules were not in place to protect patient’s sensitive medical records without providing written or verbal permission. In addition, prior to HIPAA being created patients could potentially be denied employment, housing, or treatment due to reviewing medical records that was unrelated to claim or application for housing, employment, etc.

HIPPA is the law to protect health information communicated in any manner. It states the privacy and security regulations on the rights and standards of the patient. It also defined the penalties for those who fail to protect the individual’s identifiable health information. The information on patient’s name, diagnosis, important activities for the shift and room number are all included in the HIPPA privacy rule. HIPPA privacy rule part § 162.1002 Medical data code sets. (i) Prevention. (ii) Diagnosis. (iii) Treatment. (iv)

HIPAA was created to protect the privacy and the health care institution with provide medical care to the patient. Why it so important? Disclosing patient

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,"

HIV and AIDS information is very sensitive because of the potential stigmas that are attached to having one of these conditions. One stigma would be how the person contracted the disease because some people would make the assumption that they contracted it through sexual intercourse or by sharing needles, when in reality they could have contracted the condition from their mother during childbirth. Another stigma would be that only drug users or gay men contract the condition even though this a myth, it is still a stigma. For many people who have HIV or AIDS worry constantly about people knowing and fear of being discriminated because they have this condition. It is not like people want to walk around wearing a label saying,” Hey, look at me, I have HIV”. Anyone is at risk of contracting HIV or AIDS, especially if they have a high-risk behavior. Thankfully the confidentiality of HIV and AIDS

HIPAA was put in place to help set standards on protecting a patients personal health information, therefore HIPAA does affect a patient’s access to medical records. A patient can review or obtain a copy of their records by submitting, to the physician (covered entity), a request for such in writing or a medical release form. In which case the covered entity can release a “designated record set” of certain personal

There are three main HIV reporting systems which physician are required to use in making a report, name based reporting, code based reporting and name to code reporting. However, physicians and laboratories in the United States are required to report to local and health departments using the reporting system, although the requirements differ among states. As a matter of fact, reporting and notification helps in informing individuals about the possible risk of being HIV positive, receive HIV counseling and testing, and most importantly help them get appropriate medical care. Although individuals may be discouraged from undergoing testing if they know someone will notify their contacts. Similarly, some individuals threaten to discontinue the course of treatments if their status is revealed to

I agree that proper disclosure from the patient will aid in getting appropriate treatment however that information should cause them to be treated differently from any other person. In the case of Magic Johnson when he first told the world about his HIV status there still wasn’t an abundance of data available. Although his team members were aware of transmission since it was new to some of them, I guess they didn’t want to take any chances. Even with the advancement of new technology and new medications, there is still a stigma on HIV/AIDS. Today there is lots of information about the disease free testing, but there are still countless people contracting the illness. As for health care professional, they have a duty to render care, and they

States are required to adopt this policy or its "equivalent." Because the government has taken a flexible view on "equivalency," there is wide variation in state law and not all states require disclosure of HIV infection by health care workers. Those who favor the federal policy argue that disclosure of health care worker HIV infection is necessary to meet the obligation of informed consent. They also argue that the health care workers ' obligations to act in patients ' best interests also mandate disclosure of HIV infection and, in some cases, restrictions on clinical activities. Those who are against the federal policy argue that such disclosure or restrictions are inappropriate because they violate health care workers ' privacy and because the risks to health care workers, for example from discrimination, far outweigh the benefits to patients, given that the risk of infection from a seropositive health care worker is very small. Some have suggested that the federal policy should be revised in light of the data demonstrating that the risks of transmission in the health care setting are exceedingly low.

Disclosure of the HIV status of the health provider allows the patient to make an informed decision regarding treatment.