HIPAA Regulations

Unfortunately HIPAA violations happen every year in our country. In fact, a situation happened in a New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center on May 7th 2010. The HIPAA violation happened after the electronic health records of 6,800 patients ended up on Google for the world to see. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who are responsible for HIPAA enforcement laws deeply investigated this case. It was discovered that a Columbia University physician who developed applications for New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University, attempted to deactivate a personally owned computer server on the network containing electronic protected health information (ePHI). Due to lack of technical

The HIPAA rule is built to protect and prevent disclosing individuals’, and consumers’ identifiable health care information unlawfully and without getting authority from the concern parties. If someone break the law, individuals are subject to civil penalties of $100 on each violation but the penalty can accumulates based on numbers of violations; the standard maximum limit of civil penalties is $25,000 each person, each year (HIPAA Privacy Rule – What Employers Need to Know, n. d.). As per stacking rules, if a person violated two HIPAA standards, the penalty can be $50,000; Similarly, the criminal penalties subject to maximum of $ 250,000 and ten years in prison can be imposed to those individuals and parties who disclosed protected information

The goals of HIPAA are to ensure medical coverage scope for workers and their families when they change or lose their employments and to secure wellbeing information trustworthiness, classification, and accessibility. The objectives are also to enhance our health care framework by making it more proficient, less difficult, and less

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act established in 1996 sets standards for health care information. These laws protect patient’s sensitive health information. The purpose of this discussion is to review a former UCLA employee’s HIPAA violation. Additionally, HIPAA laws and penalties for violation up for examination. Ending this discussion with the possible charges that the employee may receive.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in the year 1996. As a broad Congressional attempt at healthcare reform HIPAA was first introduced into Congress as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill named after two of its leading sponsors. The law has several different purposes that mainly focus on the protection of the healthcare provider and their patient depending on the circumstances and situations that may typically occur in a medical environment.

According to Furrow et al. (2013), when healthcare organizations and providers fail to comply with HIPAA rules it can result in civil and criminal penalties. The AARA created a structure of four tiers of civil penalties for HIPAA violations, which the Secretary of the DHHS has discretion in determining the penalty. For example, tier 1 penalties apply to violations due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. In other words, the healthcare organization is unaware of the HIPAA violation. In this situation, the minimum penalty is $100 per violation with an annual maximum of $25,000 for repeat violations (Furrow et al., 2013). Tier 2 penalties apply to violations for reasonable cause, but not willful neglect. In this situation,

Since HIPAA become mandatory on most of the health care organization, patient information is more secure compared to previous. Health care organization are investing huge amount of fund for safety measures to protect the patient information and i think this is the main concern in today's advanced health care

Electronic Health Records and Patient Confidentiality Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or

If you work in healthcare, anywhere from a small medical office to a big hospital to an insurance company, you need to be in compliance with HIPAA. This is a long, complicated document and even big insurance companies struggle to keep the rules fresh in everyone 's mind and everyone on top of the most critical functions. Here are a few things to make sure you are doing right:

The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires HIPAA covered entities and their business associates to provide notification following a breach of unsecured protected health information. Similar breach notification provisions implemented and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), apply to vendors of personal health records and their third party service providers, pursuant to section 13407 of the HITECH Act. . ("Privacy HHS.gov," n.d.)

The advantage of legislation such as HITECH Act, FDASIA, HIPPA, and ACA are a step to transform health care. This is done by enhancing privacy and security of patient data, provide better health care in expanding all aspects of patient care, including safety, effectiveness, communication, and education. Another advantage of the legislation is to improve efficiencies and lower health care costs by promoting devices for preventive medicine and improving coordination of medical services. The disadvantage of legislations in place for EHR is the increase in vulnerability for HIPPA and HITECH Act violations.

HIPAA has changed Healthcare Information in so many ways when it comes down to EDI. The system is designed to simplify electronic transactions and codes sets. The simplification of HIPAA was designed to show a consistency and operational improvements within the payer and the provider. In order to transfer healthcare information, it has to comply with the standards of HIPAA for that transaction.

The primary goal of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of health care information and help the health care industry control administrative costs. HIPAA is divided into different titles or sections that address a unique aspect of health insurance reform. Two main sections are Title I dealing with Portability and Title II that focuses on Administrative Simplification. Title I allows individuals to carry their health insurance from one job to another so that they do not have a lapse in coverage. It also restricts health plans from requiring preexisting conditions on individuals who switch from one health plan to another.

Nurses and doctors take the oath to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of patients. Patients and their medical conditions should not be discussed with anyone who is not treating the patient. Electronic health records are held to the same standards as nurses in that information is to be kept between, and shared only with the immediate care team. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly nor are the violation fines cheap. Depending on the violation, a hospital can be fined from $100 to $50,000 per violation (National Nurse 2011 p 23).

In order to ensure their protection HIPAA has instituted the Privacy and Security Rules that pertain to the safeguard of the Administrative, Physical, and Technical aspect to a patients EHRs. This insures that your provider puts into place measurements that guard against any unauthorized use of a patients PHI. Administrative Safeguards: HIPAA requires providers to have policies and procedures that are in place that protect the patients security, privacy and confidentiality. The administrative safeguards required under the HIPAA Security Rule include: • Identifying