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Concltion about hipaa
Dentify the HIPAA issues that apply to this case study
HIPAA principles
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the fraction. It is obvious that the covered entity violated the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule most especially in the HIPAA Security Rule. Under HITECH Act, the monetary penalties for HIPAA violations were increased. Civil penalties vary based on the type of violation. The minimum civil penalty is $100 up to a maximum of $50,000 for one violation if the covered entity was unaware of the violation and would have not known even if with reasonable diligence. The penalty range rises to $, 1000 to 50, 000 if the violation was due reasonable cause and not to willful neglect. If the violation was due to willful neglect, but is corrected within 30 days the penalty is at least $10,000 and up to $50,000. If the violation is due to willful neglect and is not corrected within 30 days the penalty is at least $50,000 with an annual maximum of $1.5 million per year. The omnibus final rules indicate that for all categories of violations of an identical provision in a calendar year, the maximum penalty is 1.5 million per year (Balser Group, 2014, p. 41). I believe that the settlements were fair because the UCLA clearly violated a lot of the HIPAA Privacy and Security rule such as failure to implement security measures, failure to provide adequate training to the employees, and violating the privacy of the patients’ health records. Explain your understanding of the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The major goal of HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is to provide insurance portability, fraud enforcement, and administrative simplification for the health care industry. HIPAA was created because of the growing concerns about keeping health care information private, the need to consolidate non-standard health care data ... ... middle of paper ... ... 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).
Since the formed President Bill Clinton signed HIPAA policy in to law, it has been a driving for the healthcare facilities though out the United State. This law has been shaping the healthcare facilities better conditions. HIPAA policy has causes the healthcare facilities to have document in place when a patient is admitted to the hospital seeing physician at clinic or all confidentiality document must be sign up on a admitted. When these documents signed, the patient and the others person who authorized to view any of the documents, for example: Medical records of the patient medication, diseases, tests results, etc.
According to the report provided by the consultant, the employees at this facility were not taking precautions in safeguarding the patient’s health information. Therefore, the employees at this facility were in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). It is important for employees to understand the form of technology being used and the precautions they must take to safeguard patient information.
Even though HIPAA was singed into law over seven years ago, its effects are mostly being felt now. This is because of its schedule of compliance:
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 made it illegal to gain access to personal medical information for any reasons other than health care delivery, operations, and reimbursements” (Shi & Singh, 2008, p. 166). “HIPAA legislation mandated strict controls on the transfer of personally identifiable health data between two entities, provisions for disclosure of protected information, and criminal penalties for violation” (Clayton 2001). “HIPAA also has privacy requirements that govern disclosure of patient protected health information (PHI) placed in the medical record by physicians, nurses, and other health care providers” (Buck, 2011). Always remember conversations about a patient’s health care or treatment is a violation of HIPAA. “All PHI is included in the privacy requirements for example: the patient’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition; the provision of health care to the individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual” (Buck, 2011). Other identifiable health information would be the patient’s name, address, birth date and Social Security Number (Keomouangchanh, 2011). (Word count 197)
Krager, D., & Krager, C. H. (2008). HIPAA for Health Care Professionals. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
US Congress created the HIPAA bill in 1996 because of public concern about 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 health care 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 health care 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 patient’s 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 Rule protects individual’s health information and requires medical providers to get consent for the release of any medical information and explain how private health records are protected. It also allows patients to receive their medical records from any...
middle of paper ... ... The goals are to empower patients and their families, reduce health disparities, and support research and health data. The EHR can prevent medication errors, reduce long term medical costs, improve population health and through the Meaningful Use program the vision of this program is becoming reality.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was put into place as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and was signed and made a part of law in February 2009. It sponsors the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. (www.healthcareitnews.com). There was $22 billion and of this $19.2 billion was supposed to be used as a method to increase the use or the Electronic Health Records by the doctors and healthcare facilities. (www.hitechanswers.net).
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.
HIPAA and fraud & abuse tie together in the way HIPAA protects the use the PHI in the billing and coding of claim form. No matter if the patient sells their information, HIPAA is there to help protect against fraud and abuse. One way HIPAA helps prevent fraud and abuse is in the case of preforming an audit. Although the government is the top payer in the US. Payers are the ones who do the audit of the offices. They make sure that what is on the claim matches what is on the patient’s record. This is how fraud and abuse can be stopped from continuing on.
When confidential patient information is disclosed without consent it is a violation of the HIPAA Title II Security Rule. This rule was enacted in response to private information being leaked to the news and emails containing privileged information were read by unauthorized people. Identity theft is a real concern so patient privacy should be taken seriously. This is a rule can easily be broken without the offender feeling any malice towards the victim for example gossip and curiosity. Gossip in a medical office can have devastating effects on a health care facility’s reputation. Employees engaging in idle chatter to pass the time can inadvertently be overheard by patients or family members. Simply not using the patient’s name may not be enough if the person overhearing the conversation sees the resemblance. Professional behavior should be exercised at all times and juvenile behavior such as spreading gossip, has no place in a business that relies on its credibility. This rule will impact the way patient medical records are handled because we know the seriousness of it. Hospitals that don’t enforce HIPAA rules will have negative repercussions. The patient can have irreversible damage done to their view on the medical field and that hospital if their information is not treated with care. They may even feel so violated that they bring litigation against the hospital.
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...
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Confidential Information and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA), and the Freedom of Information Act all provide legal protection under many laws. It also involves ethical protection. The patient must be able to completely trust the healthcare provider by having confidence that their information is kept safe and not disclosed without their consent. Disclosing any information to the public could be humiliating for them. Patient information that is protected includes all medical and personal information related to their medical records, medical treatments, payment records, date of birth, gender, and
The sixth ethical issue arises when the client is denied access to his medical chart. Currently, HIPPA (2006) grants clients access to their medical records. An exception to this is if the information contained within the medical records is “reasonably likely” to cause harm to the client (HIPPA, 2006; APA, 2002). The records were unlikely to cause harm to the patient and, therefore, the client should have had access to them.
If there is a data breach, patients should be informed, which in turn can increase the possibility that the patient will lose trust in their provider, therefore hurting the credibility of the provider. Patients may opt to look for health care elsewhere if they feel they cannot trust their healthcare provider with their personal information. Health care providers owe it to their patients to follow the guidelines of the HIPAA privacy rule, which protects the privacy of individuals. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Services (Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, 2003), failure to comply with the requirement of the Privacy Rule, can be penalized up to $50,000 per violation, with a calendar cap of