HIPAA: Helping Millions in Millions of Ways

1212 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Concltion about hipaa

Since the dawn of time, the biggest concern of all organisms was simple: survival. It has gotten easier since then, with millions of hospitals across the world for people to use. However, people have not always been able to use those safely. Whether it was a monetary or privacy concern, people worried until the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Commonly shortened to HIPAA, it has helped millions in numerous ways (Harmen 1). HIPAA helps members of the workforce and their families by keeping their health information safe and by helping them to easily get and keep affordable coverage. HIPAA protects health information to help with the decline of health care fraud and abuse. Health information under HIPAA is completely confidential (Government of California Department of Health Care Services 1). If the information if classified as “individually identifiable health information,” it is protected under HIPAA. As the name implies, this information is information that easily gives away the identity of information’s owner. This includes any info of of a person’s physical or mental condition at any point in time or their health care provisions. In addition, the payment for said services is classified as “individually identifiable health information.” There are currently two ways for “individually identifiable health information,” to be classified as “de-identified,” again implying that there is no reference to the owner of said information. Those two ways are as follows: “... 1. a formal determination [is made] by a qualified statistician…” or “...2. the removal of specified identifiers of the individual and the individual’s relatives, household members, and employers is required, and is adequate only if the covered ent... ... middle of paper ... ...lume102005/No2May05/tpc27_216018.html> United States Department of Health and Human Services. “Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.” Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 14 Nov 2013. Web. 19 Nov 2013. United States Department of Labor and Employee Benefits Security Administration. Your Health Plan and HIPAA… Making the Law Work For You. U.S. Department of Labor and Employee Benefits Security Administration. 2006. Web. 11 Jan 2014. hipaa&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=a2bYSsTqL4GwyATnpIC6Dg#v=onepage&q&f=true> United States Department of Labor. “Your Health Plan and HIPAA… Making the Law Work For You.” Washington D.C.: United States Department of Labor. 10 Oct 2013. Web. 9 Dec 2013.

Show More
Related

  • The Hipaa Security Rule ( Hitech )

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • The History Of HIPAA

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Summary of HIPAA

    1815 Words  | 4 Pages

    . HIPAA privacy rules are complicated and extensive, and set forth guidelines to be followed by health care providers and other covered entities such as insurance carriers and by consumers. HIPAA is very specific in its requirements regarding the release of information, but is not as specific when it comes to the manner in which training and policies are developed and delivered within the health care industry. This paper will discuss how HIPAA affects a patient's access to their medical records, how and under what circumstances personal health information can be released to other entities for purposes not related to health care, the requirements regarding written privacy policies for covered entities, the training requirements for medical office employees and the consequences for not following the policy.

    Read More

  • HIPAA Act of 1996

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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)

    Read More

  • HIPAA: Protecting Our Privacy

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity theft has always been in the back of my mind whenever I use my debit card but I wasn’t too concerned about my health information until I learned about HIPAA. It is a very important set of rules and standards that protects our privacy.

    Read More

  • HIPPA and the Privacy of Medical Records

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...explains and clarifies key provisions of the medical privacy regulation, this is a reliable source of information which was published last December (HIPAA, 1996). Guaranteeing the accuracy, security and protecting the privacy of all medical information is crucial and an ongoing challenge for many organizations.

    Read More

  • Massachusetts General Hospital

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    The internal control breach that involved Massachusetts General Hospital missing records did turn up the regulatory and enforcement heat in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The requirements of HIPPA provide clear guidelines that require all health care providers, in the United States, to give insightful protection of the private patient information. This protection should be done through physical, administrative and technical internal safeguards. The department of health and human resource service in the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a massive penalty on Massachusetts General Hospital as a measure to enhance their security and privacy regulations (Paxson).

    Read More

  • The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Marketing Communications

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    Direct Marketing Association (2002, August). The Privacy Provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Retrieved from http://www.dmaresponsibility.org/HIPPA/#III1

    Read More

  • Hipaa Privacy Rule

    1950 Words  | 4 Pages

    Congress addressed growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data, and in 1996 passed “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data. Before HIPAA, each state set their own standards. Now states must abide by the minimum standards set by HIPAA. States can enact laws to incorporate and/or strengthen the basic rights given by HIPAA.

    Read More

  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

    1793 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, better known as the Privacy Rule, that took effect in April 2003 for large entities and a year later for small ones, was established as the first set of national standards for the protection of health information. This rule was issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to meet the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule was born out of a need for health information to be appropriately protected yet still allowing the health information to be shared to ensure quality health care and to protect the public’s health and well being. It allows for the protection of the privacy of the patient and yet it also permits vital uses of information.

    Read More

  • HIPAA

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...lso to “lower administrative cost; increase accuracy of data; increase patient and consumer satisfaction; reduce revenue cycle time; and improve financial management. HIPAA promotes computer to computer connections from one facility to another. This allows for transfer of health information electronically. This reduces paper files or the possibility of documents being lost in transit. Providers and employers will have unique identifiers for each patient. The bottom line is patient privacy and confidentiality. ‘Violator’s of the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act, can and will be held accountable if patient privacy rights are compromised” (Kinn’s, 2011)..

    Read More

  • HIPAA Compliance

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    While the HIPAA regulations call for the medical industry to reexamine how it protects patient information, the standards put in place by HIPAA do not provide ...

    Read More

  • The Technological Feasibility of HIPAA Requirements

    3082 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, is a law designed “to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.”1 HIPAA mandates that covered entities must employ technological means to ensure the privacy of sensitive information. This white paper intends to study the requirements put forth by HIPAA by examining what is technically necessary for them to be implemented, the technological feasibility of this, and what commercial, off-the-shelf systems are currently available to implement these requirements.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of HIPAA

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are different things that have to be kept secret, and no one can say a word about it to anyone. Different Aacts were put into place to protect those rights of a patient or anyone who does not want information to get out. HIPAA is an act that deals with health insurance and accountability. There are consequences of what goes on or if the patient told someone, and once past a certain age no one can be with the child. Privacy is the most important thing that a person has that can not be taken, and confidentiality is something a person has knowing that information is safe.

    Read More

More about HIPAA: Helping Millions in Millions of Ways

Open Document