HIPAA was created in 1996 in order for Covered Entities (Health plan, health care clearing houses and health care provider) to protect and secure a person’s private health information (PHI). Its main focus is to eradicate worker discrimination due pre-existing conditions. Nonetheless, HIPAA concentrated on the implementation of a distributed electronic system to improve administrative transactions among covered entities. However, early stages of HIPAA provisions left many gaps opened. As an example: HIPPA did not specify how information should be protected; what methods, rules or standard needed to be enforced.…
1. What law is being violated by the employees at this health services organization? Both the privacy and security rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are being violated. 2.…
Marsha McMillen Unit 3 Discussion Healthcare Compliance Anyone that works in the healthcare environment should always obey the compliance rules. If not that, it is the law, but the joy of being friendly, compassionate, honest and confidential to those that need you the most. Healthcare compliance is the backbone to any medical practice, whether it is a Clinic, hospital, Insurance Company, or a business that works with any of the above. You should always keep your patients identity safe, like signing out of your computer when you take a break, leave your desk to get something, or even go to the restroom.…
HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules benefit and support the integrity of the healthcare industry, patient, and physician by setting a standard on how the healthcare industry protects patient information when the files are stored and transferred electronically. This is the Security Rule. This rule sets technical and non-technical safeguards called “covered entities”. ("Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule | HHS.gov," n.d.) when the office stays within the standards and complies with the regulations then the integrity of maintaining privacy stays intact.…
The HIPAA Transactions and Code Sets Rule oversee how health care providers handle business via the internet. It founds the business-to-business communications and dictates a standard that everyone must follow. This also creates the codes and/or terminology to be used. Standardized transactions were implemented with one end goal in mind and that was to save money. If a practice management application printed the usual claim form, which was the HCFA 1500 and it is now the CMS 1500, the providers office would mail it to the insurance company.…
Commonly asked and answered questions would benefit some patient. It is generic in nature. It doesn’t disclose any infractions that could be consider a HIPAA violation, but the number of questions that people have, and the amount of information you have to filter through information after information to get to the information for their specific ailment on a blog will discourage people that are not comfortable with using a computer to .…
To prevent a HIPAA violation when disposing of PHI, the healthcare facility must have a written policy documenting the proper procedure to follow when disposing PHI, and schedulers must be trained on HIPAA rules and regulations on an annual basis. Additionally, many offices keep separate containers for collecting and shredding PHI. In a recent settlement, Cornell Pharmacy in Denver, Colorado agreed to pay $125,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations after a local news reporter found patient information in an unsecured container (DHHS, 2015). According to the DHHS (2015), Cornell was cited for failing to safeguard PHI, failing to implement written policies and procedures, and failing to train the workforce on the Privacy Rule.…
In order to achieve interoperability there are basic security standards that must be accounted for to ensure safe and secure exchange. Without adequate safe measures in place, personal health records cannot be safely transmitted electronically. Exchanging private health information electronically between medical partners comes with inherent risk however. Those risks include violation of HIPAA regulations and threats, vulnerabilities and malware that threaten electronic health records (EHR) or mainframe servers.…
After doing some research on articles of HIPAA violations I found a few stories that caught my attention. The first story is about An Alabama woman that has been charged with violation of the HIPAA privacy rule for stealing paper surgery schedules about 4,500 patients from Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham. She was then using the names of these patients as well as their date of birth and social security numbers to commit identity theft. By Law this is HIPAA violation of privacy the lady should have not been going through any of the patient’s records without a valid reason. The second story I found very interesting was about a man named Huping Zhou 47 years old from Los Angeles.…
The way to communicate has come a long way in the past decade from pagers to smart phones, we become accustom to knowing information as soon as it become available. We depend on our phones for everyday activities such as making a phone call to searching the web. (Karasz et al., 2015) HIPAA Security Rule is writing with flexibility to account for changing technologies. While new technology become available more people are texting (Karasz et al., 2015) 73% of adults reported cell phone texting that’s an increase from 2009.…
Healthcare is an important organization that is a private sector which is an essential part to preventing one’s personal files from social access of being exposed. In the recent 2000’s, the HIPAA law has been developed and created in order to prevent legally any health organizations from leaking or giving out any information to persons or individuals without a patient’s consent. All healthcare organizations are legally obligated to have all patients to fill out a HIPAA form and store it in their charts. One can prove that their information was violated based on if their spouse or employer was given information regarding their records without consent. A formal consent or document should be filled out stated that their spouse or employer is not…
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) extends on requirements in HIPAA that promote organizational simplification. These new specifications introduce new operating precepts for the HIPAA-named criteria, a standard for electronic funds transfer, and a national health plan identifier. The result is an article the goes into more detail about the continuing efforts in ACA to provide administrative simplification. In fact, in the year 2013 he U.S Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recently adopted new rules that make modifications to existing privacy, safety and breach notification provisions in what is frequently pointed to as the final "HIPAA Omnibus Rule." These new rules originate from modifications made under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)…
The HIPAA Act which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and acted in 1996. HIPAA laws created a new national standard in protecting people’s health information. Whenever some body visits nowadays the hospital has a little page that you sign letting them know that you acknowledge that the physician office has notify you about their compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability laws. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability laws were put into place in protect people from things like identity thief, being denied health care, and or health insurance coverage.…
Any health care provider, health organizations, or government health plans that use, store, maintain, or transmit patient information must comply with the federal law. HIPAA also protects employees from having their information released by their employer. Along with protecting the privacy of participants the law was also established to cut down on fraudulent activity and improve data systems. Information obtained from your records can not be…
To continue this effort, it is advised the providers promote comprehensive programs and forums to help employees gain knowledge in the compliance arena. Such programs like HIPAA compliance, risk mitigation, HIPAA compliance in Laboratory and Retail pharmacy will help healthcare sectors minimize the risk of patient information being compromised and keep sensitive information safe and…