Like all other areas of health care, ethical issues arise in the use of information technology. Some areas of concern include principles of privacy, the patient’s right to autonomy and decision-making in the management of their personal health information, and the concepts of fairness and equality in access to care in which ethics can inform the provider’s strategies and decisions. The primary sources of standards and implantation specifications for health information security and privacy are Health Information Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy and Security regulations. The delivery of safe, high-quality health care necessarily involves the collection, use, retention, and sharing of individual consumers’ most private information. …show more content…
Such abuses have led to the representation of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws, which target to ensure that medical data is secured properly and that its use and conduction are strictly regulated. Some laws and regulations, such as HIPAA Security Rule and the Common Rule that protects human issues, mandate the implementation of certain policies and protective measures. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is the first and most extensive Federal legislation on health privacy and security. This legislation defines what health information must be protected and specifies what must be done to protect patients’ privacy and security. Other laws, such as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, protect consumers from unfair discrimination should their personal health information be disclosed. Fair information practices are the foundations of information security and privacy laws and regulations. FIPs constitute fair and responsible information management, which is important to establishing and maintaining public trust when collecting, using, disclosing, and sharing personal information. The Code of Fair Information Practices set forth the principles of openness, disclosure, secondary use, record correction, and security. These …show more content…
The Privacy Rule essentially says that an individual’s health information may be used or disclosed only as explicitly permitted by the law or as authorized by that individual. It also provides individuals rights to request and obtain a copy of their health information, requires that covered entities provide written notice and obtain the individual’s consent before using or disclosing health information, and limits sharing of health information. The Security Rule defines administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that a healthcare organization covered under HIPAA must implement to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of health information. The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services has the responsibility of enforcing compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security
How would you like to keep track of your personal health information record in your computer at home? The electronic data exchange was one of the goals of the government to improve the delivery and competence of the U.S. healthcare system. To achieve this plan, the U.S. Congress passed a regulation that will direct its implementation. The Department of Health and Human Services is the branch of the government that was assigned to oversee the HIPAA rules. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a national public law in the United States that was created to improve health insurability, prevent insurance abuse and to protect the privacy and security of a person’s health information.
The flip side of the signing a confidentiality document under HIPAA policy healthcare officials many times has been frustrated because bounds they can’t cross. Many times family or friends who aren’t authorizes obtains valuable medical information are coming all hours of the day to ask for critical medical reason, the nurses, physicians and others officials bid my law not to get out information on the telephone, or in personal if the individual or individuals name aren’t on the privacy document. Having a ...
As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
Introduction 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. HIPAA Overview On July 21, 1996, Bill Clinton signed HIPAA into law.
This paper will examine the privacy rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is a statute endorsed by the U.S. Congress in 1996. It offers protections for many American workers which improves portability and continuity of health insurance coverage. The seven titles of the final law are Title I - Health care Access , Portability, Title II - Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; administrative simplification; Medical Liability Reform; Title III – Tax-related Health Provisions; Title IV – Application and Enforcement of Group Health Plan Requirements; Title V – Revenue Offsets; Title XI – General Provisions, Peer Review, Administrative Simplification; Title XXVII – Assuring Portability, Availability and Renewability of Health Insurance Coverage. (Krager & Krager, 2008)
US Congress created the HIPAA bill in 1996 because of public concern about 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 health care 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 health care 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 patient’s 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 Rule protects individual’s health information and requires medical providers to get consent for the release of any medical information and explain how private health records are protected. It also allows patients to receive their medical records from any...
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.
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.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act passed and were signed into law on August 21, 1996. It affects the medical facility and its day to day operations; in many different ways. HIPAA sets higher standard of operation for healthcare workers and the facilities. "HIPAA was instituted to "improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage; to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and healthcare 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 to serve other purposes" (Kinn’s, 2011).
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...
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (2003). Summary of the hipaa privacy rule Washington, DC: Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/privacysummary.pdf
In conclusion, technology has changed the world, as we knew it. Positive and negative come with change. The goal of the ACA, HIPPA, and EHRs is achieve positive patient outcomes, while protecting the integrity, trust and confidentiality, and decreasing health care cost. Privacy is a fundamental right of a patient, and nurses are expected to maintain confidentiality (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A breach in confidentiality will result in lack of trust between nurse and patients. As a nurse, it is my responsibility to ensure my patients privacy, and to provide nursing care that is patient centered, not technology centered.
Previously, healthcare information has been protected by state law. However, since this information crosses state lines, the need for federal protection has been warranted. In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA provides the first federal protection for the privacy of medical records (Burke & Weill, 2005) HIPPA encourages the use of electronic medical record and the sharing of medical records between healthcare providers, because it can aid in saving lives. HIPAA requires that patients have some knowledge of the use of their medical records and must be notified in writing of their providers' privacy policy. HIPAA has technical requirements which a healthcare provider, insurer, or service provider, unless exempt under state law, must provide. An organization must conduct a self evaluation to learn what threats its records face, and develop techniques needed to protect the information (HIPAA, 1996). HIPAA's purpose is to protect the privacy of the consumers.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Confidential Information and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA), and the Freedom of Information Act all provide legal protection under many laws. It also involves ethical protection. The patient must be able to completely trust the healthcare provider by having confidence that their information is kept safe and not disclosed without their consent. Disclosing any information to the public could be humiliating for them. Patient information that is protected includes all medical and personal information related to their medical records, medical treatments, payment records, date of birth, gender, and