U.s. Department Of Health And Human Services

In the health care business, there are certain standards and laws that have been put in place to protect our patients and their personal health information. When a health care facility fails to protect their patient’s confidential information, the US Government may get involved and facilities may be forced to pay huge sums of money in fines, and risk damaging their reputation.

This case presents a prime example of privacy violation. The Federal privacy rule 42 CFR, part 2 mandated addition privacy protection for any health record that is generated in the treatment of patients in the federal alcohol and drug program (Hughes, 2002). The HIPAA privacy rule dictates that healthcare organizations must not disclose any identifying patient information, or alert any entity that a particular patient is participating in alcohol/drug treatment program. This type of privacy breach must be reported promptly to the internal review board (IRB), compliance officer, risk management office and the privacy officer at the healthcare organization. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) act also mandated that any healthcare organization or any covered entity under the HIPAA act should promptly notify individual patients about the accidental disclosure of their medical information; the time from discovery of breach of PHI to patient’s notification must not be more than 60 days. In addition, to patient notification, the covered entity must also report such incidents to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and to the media if the breach affects more than 500 patients, and if the breach affects less than 500 patients, notifying the patients and the

Explanation: According to both HIPAA and ARRA regulations, healthcare organizations compels to allow all reasonable efforts to limit the disclosure of information to the minimum necessary data to accomplish the purpose of the request (McWay, 2010). Based on the information provided, the request for PHI fails to specify the date of validity of the release of PHI. According to the HIPAA privacy rule, a request for the release of PHI is invalid if the request meets the following specifications (1) expiration date not specified that is related to purpose of disclosure, or the date on the request for information has elapse, (2) If the authorization request have been revoked, (3) failure to clearly state the intended purpose of release of information, (4) failure to provide signature and date of authorizing the disclosure of information ( or failure to provide specification of the representative’s authority to act on behalf of the patients), and (5) failure to specify the entity disclosing and the recipient entity (Department of Health & Human Services, 2004). There

Healthcare technology has grown and evolved over time. With the conversion to electronic medical records and the creation of social media just to name a few, ensuring patient privacy is of the utmost importance for healthcare facilities in this day and age. In order for an organization to avoid hefty fines, it is imperative that a healthcare administrator maintains compliance with the standards and regulations associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This paper will provide a summary

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into legislation in 1996, with the final version of its privacy rules going into effect in 2002. In addition to insurance and healthcare transaction regulations, HIPAA includes two key features. First, the portability of health care for workers who transition between jobs. Second, HIPAA regulates how patient’s health information must be secured with detailed privacy policies. It is important that HIPAA practices are employed by the clinic for several reasons. First and foremost, it is legally required by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HIPAA non-compliance can lead to financial penalties and lost accreditation with The Joint Commission which will have

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)

report that ?? percent of healthcare organizations experienced at least one data breach. In addition, this research introduced two major causes of data breaches that most of healthcare organizations suffered. First is . Second is . Further, when the organization is full compliance with HIPAA privacy and security requirement, it would lead to reduce data breaches and improve the privacy and security of patient's

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.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the primary agency responsible for administering human services throughout the United States for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. It makes healthcare insurance more affordable through the Affordable Care act (ACA), Medicaid, Medicare, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Implement and enforce public health safety, provide education and training, research, protect health care rights, and social services. It has a total of ten organizations that falls under its umbrella and offices and agencies that establish policies related to health care and legislation. It is instrumental in implementing laws and enforcing regulations that congress and executive branch mandates it to do.

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

The analysis of risk assessment controls are an important aspect of a system, as they are used as a basis for identifying and selecting appropriate and cost-effective measures.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines medically underserved area as ranking low on a scale that involves physicians per 1000 people, infant mortality rate, percentage below poverty level, and population >65 years old. 9 The HHS defines medically underserved population as that which includes “economic barriers (low income or Medicaid-eligible populations or cultural/linguistic access barriers to primary medical care services.” 9 According to the American Pharmacist Association, approximately 85% of US states have 61-100% of counties with medically underserved areas. 11 “28% of poor, 23% of near poor…[lack] health insurance coverage,” which is much higher than the national percentage of 13%.6 When reviewing the risk factors for vaginitis such as lack of health insurance, tobacco use, lack of bachelors degree, Hispanic origin, etc., many of the women suffering from the condition fall under the category of the underserved population as defined above. This means that clinics with the purpose of treating underserved areas and populations must have a heightened awareness of the prevalence and significance of vaginitis and must be interested in staying up to date on the most efficient medical practice strategies given the patient population.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has a pattern blood donation policies that is important to consider when evaluating their current policies. In the 1980s there was a lifetime ban on Haitians donating blood. There are notable parallels between the current MSM policy and the Haitian policy of the 80s. First, the high risk grouping was based on identity rather than behaviors. The policies were both based on assumption of high risk and stereotyping based on sexuality or race. Another shortcoming of the CDC has been the lack of representation of individuals who will be impacted by the policies. In both cases, Haitians and MSM have not been included in governing bodies that make these decisions. Finally, both policies

The United States of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the principal agency that protects the health of Americans and provides them with crucial human services, particularly those who are unable to help themselves. The Health and Human Services provides essential services to those who are least able to afford the cost of health. The motto of the organization is “Improving the health, safety, and well being of America” (Health and Human Services, n.d). Initially, the department also constituted education but in 1979, the Department of Education was formed and education was no longer a mandate of the Health and Human Services.

Security breaches of EMRs vary from someone without consent viewing the patient’s information, to a hacker using the information to steal one’s identity. According to Privacy Rights Clearing House, more than 260 million data breaches have occurred in the United States, including those of health related records. Approximately 12 percent of data breaches involve medical organizations (Gellman, 2012). According to Redspin, a provider of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act risk analysis and IT security assessment services, more than 6 million individual’s health records were compromised during a period from August 2009 and December 2010 (Author Unknown, 2010). A provision of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires all breaches affecting 500 or more people to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services. This reporting is to be accomplished within 60 days of discovery. The Redspin report covering the period above involved 225 breaches of protected health information. The amount of people with access to an individual’s health record creates concern with confidentiality. According to the Los Angeles