Introduction:
We are all aware that our medical information is available to ourselves as the patient and to any physicians we may see in the course of our medical treatment, but do we realize who else has access to our records without our knowledge or permission? I decided to write about release of information after I had a notification at work that I could not look at my own records after notifying HIM there was a coding error. This paper is not meant to be all encompassing but will include the reasons Law enforcement might be allowed PHI without the patient’s knowledge or consent.
Discussion
What are the Federal laws governing your medical records? On March 26, 2013, HHS adopted a HIPAA final rule that included the Privacy Rule or Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information as it is formally known. The law prevents the disclosure of protected health information or PHI unless you or your representative authorize it in writing or as required by law. Covered entities, health plans and their business associates and health clearinghouses are covered by this law. Health care providers include physicians, dentists, psychologists, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes, and chiropractors who transmit PHI in electronic form for any transaction for which HHS has a standard. Health plans include: HMO’s, health insurance companies, company health plans and government health programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, military and veterans care plans.
Health
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
Disclosing confidential patient information without patient consent can happen in the health care field quite often and is the basis for many cases brought against health care facilities. There are many ways confidential information gets into the wrong hands and this paper explores some of those ways and how that can be prevented.
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.
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
Before the enactment of HIPAA, there were no federal regulations relating to health care. According to Solove (2013), Congress passed laws relating to privacy of driver license, cable television, school, phone, and video rental records, but none relating to health
The article, Keep Privacy in Health Records, was written by the Monitor's Editorial Board on February 2, 2009. It condemns some of the provisions of a House Bill that was passed by the ACLU and other privacy groups. According to this bill, data encryption would ensure that authorized persons are barred from accessing patient’s health records in the institution. Audit trails are also crucial in determining and tracking who accessed the records, at what time and what type of information did he/she get. Lastly, the patients should be allowed to see their records to improve their notification and strengthen enforcement in health institutions. However, despite these initiatives to improve accountability and confidentiality of patient’s records in most institutions, the board believes that the bill has not solved some of the privacy issues as far as patient health records are concerned.
The privacy rule applies to personal health information in any form, electronic or paper, which includes the entire medical record. Individuals have full access to their information, can limit who can gain access to his or her records, can request changes to their medical record if there’s any reason they suspect that the information isn't accurate. In addition, the private information shared is kept to the minimal amount needed. Also, the patients have the privilege to decide whether or not to release their protected health information or PHI for purposes unrelated to any treatments or payment issues, such as research project. (Krager & Krager, 2008) HIPAA implemented specific code sets for diagnosis and procedures to be used in all transactions. Covered entities must adhere to the content and format requirements of each standard. (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, n.d)The security rule supplements the privacy rule; it deals specifically with electronic PHI or ePHI. It applies to covered entities that transmit health information in electronically. The Security Rule requires covered entities to keep appropriate
Two regulatory requirements, which support health-IT, are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and meaningful use. The first of these regulations is HIPAA. HIPAA has two sets of federal regulations that are applied to protect the privacy and security of health information they are the privacy rule and the security rule (Health IT legislation and Regulations, 2015, p. 35). These two regulations provide guidance for providers in how much access they have with patients’ privacy rights. The privacy rule restricts the release of Electronic Protected Health Information (e-PHI) without the patient’s knowledge or consent. The security rule requires covered entities to apply safeguards that protect the confidentiality, integrity,
Any patient that is seen by a physician within the United States is to be protected by the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” or HIPAA, which was passed into law in 1996 (Jani, 2009). All health care facilities dealing with any protected health information (PHI) are to ensure that all physical/electronic processes are safeguarded from any third party entity or unauthorized personnel according to HIPAA. All health care data to include any medical insurance
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.
Protected health information (PHI) is information in a medical record or set of medical data that can be used to identify an individual and was created during the normal healthcare process (1). Medical identity theft is the use of PHI to obtain medical care, drugs, or submit claims to insurance in another person’s name (2). To help prevent medical identity theft, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 with the purpose of directing how patient is used and can be made available. HIPAA is typically divided into 2 rules: the privacy rule and the security rule. The Privacy rule establishes the standards to protect individual healthcare data and applies to health plans, clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that conduct certain electronic healthcare
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
The principles that allow covered entities such as government agencies to release protected health information only with the patient’s consent is that PHI will be released in compliance with the regulations governing reporting requirements. There are times where the government can release protected health information, the HIPAA Privacy Rule provides that protected
Privacy and confidentiality are basic rights in our society. Safeguarding those rights, with respect to an individual’s personal health information, is our ethical and legal obligation as health care providers. Doing so in today’s health care environment is increasingly challenging (OJIN, 2005).