Use Case Study Of St. Luke's Health Care System

1196 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Hipaa Quizlet

In today’s fast paced healthcare environment, hospitals must invest in emerging technologies to improve patient outcomes, maintain regulatory compliance and sustain financial viability. St. Luke’s Health Care System, like many other healthcare institutions has made focused efforts to enhance technology to improve clinical workflows, operational efficiencies and security compliance. This use case study examines the technology used to enhance wireless networking architecture, mobile communication, and HIPAA security compliance. Healthcare organizations are commonly faced with data communication challenges that can impact clinical workflow and patient care. Several healthcare organizations have found significant benefits with the implementation …show more content…

Healthcare organizations that have encountered penalties due to HIPAA security breaches include; a $1.7 million fine in 2013 to WellPoint, and $4.8 million fine in 2014 to New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University for allowing ePHI to be accessible on Google (McCann). In 2013, a Becker Hospital Review from a well-respected healthcare periodical provided notable guidelines for HIPPA compliance as follows (Vaidya): 1. Development of privacy policies: Privacy and security policies and procedure must be adopted and enforced including actions items in the event of a breach. 2. Appointment of privacy and security officers: Privacy and security officers must serve as experts for all HIPAA regulations and policies. 3. Conducting regular risk assessments: Risk assessments must be used to identify vulnerabilities to help ensure the confidentiality and integrity of protected health information, and create remediation plans to minimize risk. 4. Adoption of email policies: Policies must be established regarding mobile devices and email communication. Encrypt email containing PHI when …show more content…

The networking architecture used to support communication is comprised of hardware, software, connectivity and communication protocols. In an effort to enhance networking communications, St. Luke’s Health Care System improved the reliability of the LAN (Local Area Network) by upgrading hardware and implementing advanced software. St. Luke’s would greatly benefit from the use of VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) configurations to optimize networking communications. A VLAN is a function of a layer 2 networking switch that allows a single LAN to be separated into logical or segregated LANs. A typical VLAN configuration efficiencies by allowing specified physical network ports on a switch to directly communicate with network ports on the same switch. A VLAN has the ability to configure network traffic rules that restrict communication between network devices that support similar functions or departments. The configuration and isolation of network traffic optimizes bandwidth performance, as well as provide a layer of security that is critical in a healthcare setting. Further enhancements of the networking infrastructure can be done by expanding VLAN’s across floors or buildings using layer 3 switches to reduce congestion. Another approach to network optimization that may benefit St. Luke’s is to logically separate the network architecture into many VLANs according to their network

Show More
Related

  • HIPAA: Privacy and Security Rules The Computer, the Nurse and You

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    How would you like to keep track of your personal health information record in your computer at home? The electronic data exchange was one of the goals of the government to improve the delivery and competence of the U.S. healthcare system. To achieve this plan, the U.S. Congress passed a regulation that will direct its implementation. The Department of Health and Human Services is the branch of the government that was assigned to oversee the HIPAA rules. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a national public law in the United States that was created to improve health insurability, prevent insurance abuse and to protect the privacy and security of a person’s health information.

    Read More

  • CDS Systems, EBP and Clinical Guidelines

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Generally, the development and adoption of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems is based on the necessity and essence of technical standards in enhancing healthcare. However, the various health IT tools must comply with some data interchange standards in order to enhance access to clinical records, lessen clinical errors and risks to patient safety, and promote innovation in “individual-based” care (Hammond, Jaffe & Kush, 2009, p.44). The need for compliance with standards is fueled by their role in enabling aggregation of informa...

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues In Health Administration Essay

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    Administrators may play a role in ensuring that these systems adhere to all the relevant laws and regulations, like The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). However, there are circumstances under which confidentiality must be broken in order to prevent harm to a patient or outside party. You'll need a thorough understanding of these rules to help ensure compliance.

    Read More

  • HIPAA: Protecting Our Privacy

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Krager, D., & Krager, C. H. (2008). HIPAA for Health Care Professionals. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.

    Read More

  • The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, most commonly known by its initials HIPAA, was enacted by Congress then signed by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. This act was put into place in order to regulate the privacy of patient health information, and as an effort to lower the cost of health care, shape the many pieces of our complicated healthcare system. This act also protects individuals from losing their health insurance if they lose their employment or choose to switch employers. . Before HIPAA there was no standard or consistency for the enforcement of the privacy for patients and the rules and regulations varied by state and organizations. HIPAA virtually affects everybody within the healthcare field including but not limited to patients, providers, payers and intermediaries. Although there are many parts of the HIPAA act, for the purposes of this paper we are going to focus on the two main sections and the four objectives of HIPAA, a which are to improve the portability (the capability of transferring from one employee to another) of health insurance, combat fraud, abuse, and waste in health insurance, to promote the expanded use of medical savings accounts, and to simplify the administration of health insurance.

    Read More

  • The History Of HIPAA

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some of the things that HIPAA does for a patient are it gives patients more control over their health information. It sets boundaries on the use and release of health records. It establishes appropriate guidelines that health care providers and others must do to protect the privacy of the patients’ health information. It holds violators accountable, in court that can be imposed if they violate patients’ privacy rights by HIPAA. Overall HIPAA makes it to where the health information can’t b...

    Read More

  • Health Care Case Study

    1406 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health Care workers are constantly faced with legal and ethical issues every day during the course of their work. It is important that the health care workers have a clear understanding of these legal and ethical issues that they will face (1). In the case study analysed key legal and ethical issues arise during the initial decision-making of the incident, when the second ambulance crew arrived, throughout the treatment and during the transfer of patient to the hospital. The ethical issues in this case can be described as what the paramedic believes is the right thing to do for the patient and the legal issues control what the law describes that the paramedic should do in this situation (2, 3). It is therefore important that paramedics also

    Read More

  • HIPPA and the Privacy of Medical Records

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    HIPAA provides the first federal protection for the privacy of medical records (Burke & Weill, 2005). HIPPA encourages the use of electronic medical records and the sharing of medical records between healthcare providers, because it can aid in saving lives. HIPAA requires that patients have some knowledge of the use of their medical records and must be notified in writing of their providers' privacy policies. HIPAA has technical requirements that a healthcare provider, insurer, or service provider, unless exempt under state law, must provide. An organization must conduct a self-evaluation to learn what threats its records face, and develop techniques needed to protect the information (HIPAA, 1996).

    Read More

  • The Hipaa Security Rule ( Hitech )

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... of potential threats such as unauthorized access of the patient information. Health care leaders must always remind their employees that casual review for personal interest of patients ' protected health information is unacceptable and against the law just like what happened in the UCLA health systems case (Fiske, 2011). Health care organizations need clear policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations. Through policies and procedures, entities covered under HIPAA must reasonably restrict access to patient information to only those employees with a valid reason to view the information and must sanction any employee who is found to have violated these policies.In addition, it is critical that health care organizations should implement awareness and training programs for all members of its workforce (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013).

    Read More

  • HIPAA Compliance

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you are in the healthcare industry, you have probably heard some rumblings about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, coolly referred to as HIPAA. The word is your medical practice will have to be HIPAA compliant by April 2003, but you're not exactly sure what this act mandates or how to accomplish it. In very basic terms, HIPAA has two primary components to which hospitals, health plans, healthcare "clearinghouses," and healthcare providers must conform: 1) Administrative simplification, which calls for use of the same computer language industry-wide; 2) Privacy protection, which requires healthcare providers to take reasonable measures to protect patients' written, oral, and electronic information. Congress passed HIPAA in an effort "to protect the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information. "1 Additionally, lawmakers "sought to reduce the administrative costs and burden associated with healthcare by standardizing data and facilitating transmission of many administrative and financial transactions." 1 HIPAA consultants say the new regulations should save the healthcare industry money in the long run, provide improved security of patient information, and allow patients to have better access to their own healthcare information.

    Read More

  • Building A Better Mis Trap Case

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this case, a large health services organization (HSO) in Florida, that has a world-renowned AIDS treatment center had information breach of 4,000 HIV+ patient records, and the list was sent to newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Consequently, this issue was featured in every media vehicle in the world and as CEO, you are requested by the board of trustees to come up a better management information system (MIS) to resolve all information security issues or you will face termination. After hiring an undercover computer security consultant to help determine where the security leak came from, she quickly identifies numerous breaches in computer security and provides a report with the issues identified. The report furnished by the consultant revealed that facility had major problems with the MIS and the staff. In order to determine how to address the issues, the CEO must first answer the following questions: what law is being violated by the employees, why was this law enacted, what are the penalties for such violations, what are the penalties for sharing celebrity information, and should he be updating his resume and looking for another job (Buchbinder, 378).

    Read More

  • Person Centred In Health And Social Care Essay

    1681 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are various reasons why risk assessments are put in place. Risk assessments can be used to assess the environments that we work in, the risks staff may be exposed to, the risks to the individual and the risks of the equipment that is in place. Once the risk assessment process has been completed it will help all concerned to thin about ant potential hazards there may be in the situation or activity and the ways risks to the individual others cane be minimized. Taking risks is part of being able to choose and be in control of your life. It is important that concerns about risks do not get in the way of people living their lives in the way they want to. We must ensure we make the individual aware of all risks for them to be able to make their

    Read More

  • HIPAA, CIA, and Safeguards

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Health and Human Services (HHS) settled a case with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) for $1.5 million for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and security rules. There are security issues with BCBST in regard to confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy. There are also security requirement by HIPAA which could have prevent the security issue if it has been enforced. There are correction actions taken by BCBST which were efficient and some may have not been adequate. There are HIPAA security requirements and safeguards organization need to implement to mitigate the security risk in terms of administrative, technical, and physical safeguards.

    Read More

  • Leadership in Healthcare Management

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    Physicians, administrators, staff, and patients who are affiliated within the healthcare organization should understand the importance of interoperability by coming together to ease ...

    Read More

  • Employee Privacy Report

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this report, I will be addressing e-mail, Internet use, and privacy policies in my workplace; the current laws regulating employee e-mail and Internet privacy; the reasons to companies carry out e-mail and Internet use policies; the assumptions employees make about their privacy at work; and how these policies affect employee privacy at work.

    Read More

More about Use Case Study Of St. Luke's Health Care System

Open Document