The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act

Communication has been permanently changed by social media. A wide conceptual definition of social media, as cited in Ressler & Glazer (2010), is “The online and mobile accessible services that enable individuals to connect, collaborate, and share with others in real time.” Social media has an obvious influence on informal communication style and represents both possibility and liability for healthcare institutions. As cited in Bernhardt, Alber, & Gold (2014), “Social media provide healthcare professionals with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviors, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleagues.” It also presents challenges, including risks to information accuracy, organizational reputation, and individual privacy. Social media can be a very helpful in communicating among nurses and other healthcare providers while creating professional connections, and sharing experiences, but guidelines for appropriate use by healthcare providers are essential. Whether or not certain healthcare organization decides to use social media as a communications tool - social media policy still need to be implemented. Policies help establish an organization 's rules and expectations around social media.

In the world today, smartphones are becoming the “norm”, with basic phones becoming nearly obsolete in recent years. Pairing the overwhelming presence of social media with the rise in usage of smartphones brings to light an entirely new set of problems and challenges regarding patient privacy. According to a 2010 study conducted regarding various boards of nursing, 67% of executive officers surveyed reported receiving complaints about nurses misusing social media (Spector & Kappel,

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was intricately designed to provide not only a more efficient health care system but also as a protection for private patient information and data. With the widespread use of technology and computers in hospitals, the availability of patient information, their health portfolio, and their previous care has greatly improved the efficiency of health care. However, this also means that there is greater leeway for that information to be lost and/or shared without patients consent.

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

Social media has taken over the way that we interact with one another. It is leading the way in which we communicate with family, friends, coworkers and strangers. It is also the way we keep up with our favorite celebrities and gossip. Social media and the use of smartphones are becoming more prevalent in business and the healthcare field as well. According to Pew Research Center, “62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition” (April, 2015). Technology, just like all things come with flaws

Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the protection of patient’s private health information. It’s very pertinent to the patients that their personal information is being kept privately away from unauthorized viewers. Patients are allowed to have access to their own health records if they request them. Workers that has access to protected health information are required by law to secure all information in a file and not share with anyone any information that is not relevant to them. You should always know whom to disclosed the proper protected health information to when necessary. There are safeguards that can help with ensuring the security and protection of the protected health information, while the information is being transmitted or stored in its proper place.

The objective of this study is to examine the importance of not sharing patient information through social media. According to the work of Adler (2011) many physicians are violating HIPAA and do not know it. Dimick (2010) writes that nurses at the Fargo, ND-based healthcare system in 2008 were using Facebook to "provide unauthorized shift change updates to their co-workers. What once would have been a conversation became an update on their personal Facebook pages. It was a convenient tool, because the nurses had "friended" each other through Facebook and thus could quickly read what each other wrote on their pages. They did not use patient names, but they did post enough specifics about patients so that the incoming nurses could prepare for their shift. The problem was that everyone else "friended" to their Facebook pages could also read the information." (p.1) The use of social media to talk about work "sharing sensitive patient or proprietary business information that same easy use and powerful reach broadcasts guarded information to large numbers of people." (Dimick, 2010, p.1) Release of information that is sensitive over social media can result in great harm to the reputation of an organization, violations of HIPAWA and ultimately result in "breach notifications and hefty fines." (Dimick, 2010, p.2) Dimick writes that Kaiser Permanente published "an organization-wide social media policy that explains appropriate staff

Personal health information can be anything from general information such as the patient’s name, medical record number, social security number, address, or even their date of birth. Any health information pertains to the patient such as diagnosis, medical history, medications. Employees must make sure no medical paper work is visible as well as screen protectors are on all computer screens, where you may be documenting health information. It is important that all health care employees log out of a computer when they leave that station. Employees that are aware of a breach of confidently should use their change of command set up by their facility also notify their incidents or situations to their hospital’s privacy officer. To promote the proper use of health information, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH Act, was created. Prior to the HITECH Act, HIPAA violations only resulted in minimal fines. Violations would result in a $100 fine, and a covered entity could only achieve a total of $25,000 in fines in one calendar year. The HITECH Act has broken the violations down into four categories, and has distributed the fines across them based on the category of violation. The first category would be a violations that caused by someone who didn’t know they were violating HIPAA. The fines for this tier are in the range

HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a set of laws aimed to protect people from losing their health insurance coverage during change or loss of employment, to control health care fraud and abuse, and to maintain patient`s health information and/or status confidential. The origins of HIPAA go as far back as the 1990 when medical records were suggested to become computerized, management of health care records was questioned and portability of health insurance became an issue. HIPAA was introduced as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill, passed by Congress and signed by the former president Bill Clinton in August 1996. Even though the law itself was passed, the specifications were finalized subsequently; 1999 The Privacy Rule was completed, in 2000 the Transaction and Code Sets Final Rule and the Security Rule and the National Provider Identifier were finalized, and in 2006 The Enforcement Rule was concluded. These regulations are grouped into Title I - “Health Care Access, Portability, and Renewability” and Title II - “Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse”. HIPAA not only mandates health care institutions to comply, but also to educate their employees about the law. HIPAA applies to covered entities such as health insurance plans, health care clearinghouse such as billing companies, doctor offices, pharmacies and of course us, the medical laboratories. Its regulations require entities to have policies and procedures defining privacy requirements,

The privacy portion of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a substantial portion of the law that has indeed gained the most attention and had the widest impacts – more so even than the insurance portability portion. The rules that make up the privacy piece of the law are intended to protect patients from having information about their medical history and medical care released to anyone that doesn’t have a right to know. The Security Rule supports the Privacy Rule in how it affects technological advances in healthcare – specifically, electronic medical records: Electronic Medical Records or Electronic Health Records (EMR’s or EHR’s, respectively). The Breach Notification Rule supports patients’ privacy not only by mandating reporting to

Congress recognizing the growth in healthcare technology passed into law on August 21, 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (Booth 2011). HIPAA was created with the purpose of improving the portability and continuity of health care coverage(Booth 2011). The function of this national framework is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare delivery system by creating privacy protection that builds on efforts by all 50 states ( Booth 2011). This consolidated effort is geared toward protecting and enhancing the rights of patients by providing them access to their health information and at the same time controlling the inappropriate use or revelation of their pertinent health information (Booth 2011). HIPPA, which is

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.

Today, technology is usually way ahead in every aspect of our world, especially with mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. All of these devices have photography and data transmission as well as storage capabilities. These functions, on mobile devices, present legal challenges and issues especially when it comes to compliance with HIPPA. While HIPPA regulations do describe how patient health information or PHI should be handled, to date, they have not been changed to specifically account for smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Laws and policies must be implemented to protect PHI on personal mobile devices. At the state level, the policymakers that will be contacted are Richard Corcoran, House Health Committee Chairman and Aaron

As social media becomes an essential way to communicate, nurse must be aware of what are appropriate and illegitimate uses of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Nurses must use their best judgment in what they post, because they are responsible for protecting the public view of nurses, and most importantly, former and present patient confidentiality. Social media education should not start when a nurse starts their career, but while they are still in school. Richard G. Booth of Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, Canada, studied the use of Twitter by nursing students. In 2011, Booth collected 498 tweets over a six day

Social media has been taking over and on the rise for the past few years now. Everyone these days has some kind of social communication that’s online and the number of users are escalating on a daily basis. Social media has become such a popular yet dangerous way of communicating through technology. Some people can be naïve to the fact that everyone can see what they post regardless of their privacy settings. People need to keep that in mind especially when working in an industry where everything has to be kept confidential. From the article “Guidelines for Using Electronic and Social Media: The Regulatory Perspective”, it read “Social media is not merely a driving force in everyday life, but one that fits seamlessly into how communication is transmitted” (Spector, N., Kappel, D., 2012). Some people get too involved with the internet and social media and end up abusing its power. When it comes to the health care field like nursing, everything nurses work around should be kept private and confidential to keep their patients information safe. If you’re proud of your patient, tell them. There’s no need to post every thought that comes to mind on social media. Nurses must keep a professional boundary and know not to mix business with pleasure because it can end up getting them in trouble. Their work life and personal life should be kept separate from each other and should be on a “need to