HIPAA Summary And Analysis

US Congress created the Hipaa bill in 1996 because of public concern of 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 healthcare 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 healthcare 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 patients 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

The HIPAA law dictates how our organization not only handles patient privacy and record keeping, but also how we handle patients’ request to view medical records for a variety of reasons. A patient in our organization requested to attain complete access to his records that include psychiatric records as well. Although the HIPAA law grants access to patients, there may be some crucial provisions that require special attention. I have done extensive research to provide our organization with the lawful protocols we must follow in order to protect our organization and our patient’s rights as well. HIPAA’s concise guidelines are what provide our organization and patient a clear stance on our responsibilities as well as limitations in the release

(Dietrich, 2015), discussed that new regulations have caused many Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to become subject to patient health care data security rules under HIPAA. When providing consulting services to a healthcare organization or assisting with revenue cycle, CPAs should try to limit their liability by minimizing exposure to health care data and establish an engagement letter to ensure the healthcare organization is liable if patient health care data is unnecessarily provided to the CPA. Under HIPAA, electronic information must be protected during electronic exchange, technically protected against unauthorized access, and physically protected against unauthorized access

1. Mrs. Smith had a pregnancy test. Mr. Smith called Mrs. Smith’s physician and requested a copy of Mrs. Smith’s test results. Can/Should the physician release the results of the pregnancy test to Mr. Smith over the phone? (Use law and ethics to defend your answer) Why or why not?

I do think that HIPAA is more compliant in regards to electronic records because from its beginning concept it was known that health data was going digital. I think because of that knowledge it has been a main focus in its development through the years. Yes, I do believe that today HIPAA does protect my personal and healthcare records more so than 5 years ago because of the January 2013 HIPAA modifications. As stated in the article, these modifications implemented changes that increased the HIPAA sanctions and enforcements to include the business associates and subcontractors of the healthcare organizations. This is important because it stated that 20% of all breaches are caused by business associates. This means that they are now held to the

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a set of national standards created for the protection of health information; it is also known as a “Privacy Rule”. This rule was employed in 1996 by the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to address the use and disclosure of an individual’s health information as well as the standards for the individual’s privacy rights to understand and control the manner in which their information is used.

In 1996, the HIPPA act was passed. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which was directed to improve the areas in the health field. For instance, lowering the number of errors and mistreatment, for individuals to have the access to transfer health coverage according to their present situation, and most importantly it monitors security and confidentiality information to ensure its being controlled in an accurate manner. This act gives congress ability to govern financial matter such as, federal level funding processes pertaining to different health documentation. Providing quality care while protecting patient’s information is a priority controlled under HIPAA, which accepts collaboration with all state and federal

The Security Rule requires that covered entities must protect against reasonably anticipated, uses or disclosures of e-PHI that is not permitted. It requires them to perform risk analysis as a part of their security process.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA was passed by Congress in 1996 to provide the ability to transfer and continue health insurance coverage for workers as well as their families after changing or losing their jobs. As a result, new patients are required to fill HIPAA compliant forms while existing patients should update their information on a regular basis. Documenting and maintaining the HIPAA forms properly ensures that healthcare providers focus more on other aspects of their practice.

Ten years ago after much challenges and questionable skepticism, the HIPAA policy became effective and has been shaping healthcare one regulatory policy at a time. The evolution of the HIPAA privacy act helped establish the HIPAA Security Rule which was published in 2003 and became effective in 2005, and then eventually led to the HIPAA Enforcement Rules and the Breach Notification Rule. With it joint fortification of the 2009 HITECH Act and HIPAA’s modifications to regulations, it was released in January 2013 to the industry (American Health Information Management Association, 2013).

Our company provides services to analyze the medical billing and payments of health care providers like hospitals, labs, pharmacies to detect any frauds. All our clients are HIPAA compliant, and as mandated by HIPAA, we have signed Business Associate Agreement with all our clients. The company doesn’t process any billing, and only the billing information flows from IT systems of the health care providers.

One of the huge issues at the time of conception was the transition to electronic means of storage and transfer. At the time this technology was new, and not widely used as it is today. However with the implementation of HIPAA, it helped create a sense of trust and security that was not present before. By creating procedures to follow when storing and transferring information electronically, it educated many on how patient information was really being handled. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that HIPAA helped the adoption of electronic prescribing among physicians and other clinicians, overall adoption rates increasing from 5% to 18% (HIPAA: Impact). Essentially it helped usher in a new age of technology and assisted in its assimilation into the health industry, which provides far more convenience and utility than previous methods.

I was trying to double check if I had completed the HIPAA training, but I now cannot remember where to locate the training at. Could you help direct me in the correction direction to find the training that way I can make sure everything is in order before pilot testing starts?

HIPPA legislation focuses on the healthcare industry and was predicated on the principals laid out by the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a). The primary focus of HIPPA was to define what types of information fell under the definition of Protected Health Information (PHI); to define circumstances under which disclosure of PHI to individuals or organizations (covered entities) is permissible; and to outline what information security measures are required (required standards) as well as additional suggested security measures (addressable standards) (45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and C of Part 164). Many of the security precautions discussed earlier are HIPAA

Then there are also the concerns of privacy issues. This is when HIPPA comes into effect. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulates the privacy of health information exchange. The HIPPA reduces health care fraud and abuse. It protects the privacy of all individual’s health information.