Why Do Medical Professionals Violate HIPAA Laws?

The three incidents that were described showed that proper HIPAA education is essential for any work in the medical field. Compliance to the laws will prevent huge fines and decrease any company losses. Also, patient privacy will be

HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. Under HIPAA, patients have the right to access and control their health records. In order to safeguard protected health information (PHI, or patients’ individually identifiable information), health care providers must restrict access to the information and have patients’ permission to disclose it.

Discuss what is required to disclose patient information to family members, friends, and when ordered by courts or government

Huping Zhou, a former cardiothoracic surgeon from China, whom recently moved to Los Angeles and became employed at UCLA School of Medicine as a researcher, was sentenced to federal prison for HIPAA violations. This made him the first person in the United States to receive a prison sentence for HIPAA violations. His employer informed Zhoe that they were starting the process of terminating his employment .Zhou accessed the medical records of his former colleagues that night. During the following three weeks he accessed the records of celebrities, and high-profile patients 323 times. He claimed that he was unaware that it was illegal to view these records. No evidence was found that Zhou misused the information he obtained, nor did he sell the information. He received a four month jail sentence and a 2,000 dollar fine (Dimick, 2010).

Although HIPAA (Health insurance portability and accountability) is a standard for health care providers nationwide, there are rare instances in which HIPAA is violated. There are a number of ways HIPAA can be violated. HIPPA’s Privacy Rule applies only to covered entities – health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers. The rule requires covered entities to obtain satisfactory assurance, in writing, form its business associate that the associate will appropriately safeguard the protected health information. Before delving into examples of HIPAA violations, let’s review HIPAA Regulations and laws.

Medical treatments require a great deal of paperwork. Before patients are allowed to go through treatments, a clinic must process their insurances, medical records, and surgery details. As a result, a lot of private information is gathered within the hospitals. With so much private information, it is essential for healthcare facilities to efficiently organize their paperwork. An unorganized recording system can prove disastrous to a hospital. Leaving patients’ paperwork publicly unattended and misplacing a file are both considered negligent. Misplacing patients’ information can potentially lead to information theft and invasion of privacy. An efficient way of storing information can be valuable in preventing HIPAA

In 1996, President Clinton and the US Congress passed/signed the act of HIPPA. HIPPA was enacted to maintain confidentiality of their patient’s information and to protect health insurance coverage for families and workers when they lose or change their job (portability). HIPPA set standards to respect the individual’s rights by exercising such procedures, authorizing and disclosing information. This means that anybody that works at a daily clinical or administrative job should never under any circumstances speak about the patients. If HIPAA violations are violated, this can greatly impact the person working in the medical field. Not only are violations expensive, but the penalties for noncompliance is based on the level of negligence. Criminal

The hospital accounting department will also be off limits except only for those personnel that are authorized. Extra vigilance must be place on all medical record rooms, since the hospital still has paper medical records. All medical staff will receive training so that they understand the importance of HIPAA. This policy will guarantee that we have controls in place in regards to accessing patient information and staff access is monitored.

Amy pays the secretary with cash for the visit and the secretary provides a receipt proving Amy Chatterbox payed that day. This clears up any confusion of whether payment was made. Then new patient information forms are asked to be filled out with information like, where the patient lives with contact information, past medical history, and what types of medications are taken, so that it is recorded in Amy’s record. This is done to protect the patient from taking something that might injury or kill her if proscribed. A signature is required on all documents such as, HIPPA, release of information from payer and consent for treatment, allowing Amy to provide permission for

HIPAA impacts almost every area of MCW, as well as interactions with, and operations of, their affiliate hospitals including Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. MCW has a website to provide all MCW Faculty, Staff, Residents, Students and others access to information on the Privacy Regulation and a list of who to contact with questions. In addition, if anyone (faculty, staff, students, or residents) request information from MCW they must do so in writing. MCW has implemented policies and procedures that comply with the federal government standards. However, MCW has an Ombuds office whom primary role is to serve as a confidential, independent, informal and neutral resource

Medicinal records aren't unveiled to patient families or companions without the consent from the patient in a composed authoritative archive "expressing that the patient permitted their records to be uncovered to an outsider". In this manner as a HIM proficient, they are to advise the outsider that data can't be uncovered without authorization from the patient in authoritative document from verbal, visual, and composed structure. Consequently, in Mary case she can't lawfully unveil data in regards to a patient record, notwithstanding what association she have with the patient. In spite of the fact that Ron is viewed as a danger to Patricia, She can't convey his data regardless of the fact that she ties prompt family with Patricia. It would be viewed as dishonest and

1. Under HIPAA, are you legally allowed to view this patient’s medical information? Why or why not?

Please be advised, going forward any patient documents that’s being requested to send out; PLEASE make sure that its only that patient that’s requested documents.

While IT will take every precaution to prevent the employee’s personal data from being lost in the event it must remote wipe a device, it is the employee’s responsibility to take additional precautions, such as backing up email, contacts, etc.

2. Remote Access Policies – users are always going to want to access the office network from a remote site. We have to ensure that there are policies in place that allow them to do so but in a safe manner. If they are going to remotely access the network it has to be done in accordance with the security policies of the organization and not on their terms. This should include using a laptop or remote connection software that has been pre-approved by the organizations security team, keeping IP’s in a safe place, making sure that if they are accessing the network from a laptop to ensure that hard drive is encrypted. This will prevent anyone from gaining access the sensitive information if it is ever lost or stolen. Lastly not everyone should be granted remote access to the network; this privilege should only be given to people who have a legitimate need for it.