Data privacy is vital to healthcare organizations and the health information they store. Johns (YEAR) defines data security as “a collection of protection measures and practices that safeguard data, computers, and associated resources from undesired occurrences and exposures” (p. 207). To protect their information, organizations must develop a data security program to meet the needs of Health Information Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), stakeholders, and the business’s needs. Additionally following the guidelines set by HIPAA is key to being in compliance with the law. These programs differ depending on the organizations that are required to establish them, however, they all follow the same steps in creating and implementing this program
A patient’s right to privacy is one of the most important and protected elements of healthcare today. Patient health information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and even more so by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. “The HIPAA Privacy Rule is a key federal law governing the privacy and confidentiality of patient information.” (Brodnik, Rinehart-Thompson, Reynolds. 2012 pg. 215.) The law governing patient privacy has two goals, “to provide an individual with greater rights with
Pharmaceutical companies, insurance agencies, research hospitals, and countless medical practices must take safeguards to secure health information. It’s vital to surviving in our competitive marketplace.
Peel’s interpretation of the HIPAA regulation is that “HIPAA does not protect privacy” (Peel, 2014). She explains that health data is continuously being bought and sold between multiple different agencies and that data breaches are due to a policy problem and not a technology problem (Peel, 2014). This stance on the lack of privacy and security under HIPAA is an accurate point of view. Amendments to the HIPAA in 2002 included eliminating required consent for PHI disclosure, changing the policy for obtaining patient consent allowing for the free oral communication between doctors to discuss patients’ PHI, clarifying the current physician’s discretion to provide or deny access to children’s health records, restricting PHI for marketing purposes or use by parties not directly involved in patient care, and provisions for providers regarding billing and business practices (Norman, & Burroughs, 2002, p. 865-866). These amendments that eliminate the need for patient consent further degrade the lack of protection of PHI. Dr. Peel challenges the medical community to expose the continuous transfer of vital patient records between third party corporations in an attempt to draw attention and make a positive change toward proper security of patient’s
The practice violates Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule and the recent update to the HIPAA privacy rule or the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule. The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal statute governing the protection of patient information, was enacted into law in 1996. The essential objective of the law is to make it easier for people, business to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. The Privacy Rule addresses appropriate disclosure of PHI while the Security Rule addresses electronic disclosures.
Attempts to stop fraud were enhanced under Public Law 104-191, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The purpose was to improve the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act, the Medicaid program under title XIX of such Act, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system. This public law encouraged the development of a health information system through standards and requirements for the electronic transmission of certain health information (aspe.hhs.go). The Act established a program to take action against fraud committed against public and private health plans. The legislation required the establishment of a national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC), under the joint direction of the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acting through the Department 's Inspector General (HHS.gov). The HCFAC program is designed to coordinate Federal, State and local law enforcement activities with respect to health care fraud and abuse. The Act requires HHS and Department of Justice (DOJ) detail in an Annual Report the amounts deposited and appropriated to the Medicare Trust Fund, and the source of such deposits. (HHS.gov) I will summarize the impact of these laws as it pertains to how they are impacting the healthcare delivery system. (HHS.gov)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was implemented in 1996 and it required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote regulations that maintains and follow procedures that ensure the privacy and security of health information and protects patients' personal or protected health information (PHI). The HIPAA Privacy Rule regulations require health care providers and organizations, and their business associates to protect all individually identifiable health information when it is handled, transmitted, received, or shared. This information applies to all forms of protected health information (PHI), including digital, paper or oral. In addition, the information
We never stop worrying about our children’s health—be they five or fifty. However, once our children turn eighteen, we as parents no longer have the right to receive their medical information – regardless if they are covered under our health insurance and even if we happen to be footing the bill!
Data security has become a concern for every individual in our country. We hear about data loss from businesses like Target and University of Maryland at College Park and it is easy to wonder where the next security breach will be and whether it will affect us personally. This is intended as a look at the existing data security policies that receive the most public attention, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) (34 CFR) and Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 2000 (HIPAA) (45 CFR. 76 CFR)with a focus on how these statutes apply to database security and design. These regulations affect every American in some way since nearly every person has been either a student, the parent of a
-Employers do not want to be liable for employees. Discrimination against people who are at risk for a certain disease is more profitable because it will potently save the company a substantial amount of money.
Information is the center of the healthcare industry. All healthcare organizations utilize information whether in written or oral form. Safe and accurate information are some of the keys to quality care. With the industry constantly changing and with several ways of accessing processed data, safeguarding patient information is top priority. Information governance (IG) seeks to improve how information is handled (Hutchinson & Sharples, 2006). IG includes the protection of data, personal health records (PHR), electronic health records (EHR), and medical information exchanged via telemedicine. Breaches of personal information have been occurring more often and the time for information governance is indeed now. This paper will explain what information governance is, give examples of data breaches and how the particular organization was affected, and explain the importance of implementing information governance.
Over the last ten plus years, health care information technology continues to progress in a direction to increase patient safety and outcomes while maintaining the patients privacy. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of an Electronic Health Record [EHR] within the health care field and my work facilities compliance using this technology. I will also be discussing how the mandate goals will benefit the patient and the care provided by their healthcare team while improving patient safety. I will apply the concepts of data security while retaining the patient’s confidentiality and privacy to avoid a HIPAA violation within my practice.
When building e-health system to record patients’ data, it should comply with security standards such as HIPAA and HL7. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule provides guidelines to ensure the privacy and security of health data (Acharya et al. 2013), and the Health Level Seven International (HL7) provides the structure of health data and the framework for information exchange (Singh et al. 2013).
There are different types of information present in health care. In their field of work, nurses organize data they collect and incorporate it into effective nursing interventions and care plans. As technology increasingly arises in health care, nurses have the duty to maintain privacy and confidentiality of their patient. Therefore, nurses must be proficient in nursing informatics, are responsible for adequate information and documentation, and must abide the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to safeguard their client’s personal health information.
With the advancement of the internet many areas of personal information are at risk of theft, even up to losing ones’ personal identity. The case study history is as follows: A laptop belonging to Kaiser Permanente was stolen from an employee’s car. This computer contained 38,000 Kaiser Permanente membership names, identification numbers, dates of birth, gender, and physician information (Laptop with patient info stolen, Rocky Mountain News, November 29, 2006). This loss and many other personal information injuries inform all healthcare agencies of the significance of implementing safeguards/regulatory guidelines to protect patient information. According to Smith (2000) “Threats to medical record privacy include: (a) administrative actions such as errors that release, misclassify, lose information or compromise accuracy; (b) misuse by users; and (c) uncontrolled access to the medical record. Heath care computerization is an increased threat to medical record privacy through enabling the storage of large amounts of data in small places. Therefore, when an intruder gains access, it is not just for a discrete amount of data but rather larger collections of information” will be at their fingertips (n.p.). There are several recommendations that can be enforced to increase the use of technology to protect confidential healthcare information, such as changes Kaiser Permanente completed, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JACHO), the HITECH Act,
In light of available security measures and their widespread acceptance within the information security community, there is no excuse for healthcare organizations to fail in fulfilling their duty to protect personal patient information. Guaranteeing the confidentiality and privacy of data in healthcare information is crucial in safeguarding the data of patients as there should be a legal responsibility to protect medical records from unauthorized access.