org/).
More specifically, it stated that an individual who is under the care of any health organization, public or private, be it mental or physical health is subject to: (i) procedures of privacy rights. Namely that information regarding his health or person cannot be revealed to others without his or her permission, and (ii) that there should be established procedures for the exercise of these privacy rights (Ibid.).
The advantages with HIPAA is that it gives individuals control over their health information, as well as establishing national standards that health care providers must comply with and helps to limit inappropriate manipulation of individual by health care facility or corruption of its ethical procedures.
A problem with HIPAA, however, is that the mechanism used to authenticate a patient and to enable him access to his or her private records is the individual's social security identification. This alone is problematic...
The privacy rule does permit disclosure under special circumstances where an individual's permit is not needed.
In conclusion, government has established a series of rules and regulations that keep the health care facility in check and direct their attitude towards their clients so that their clients are respected and treated in an ethical manner. The HIPAA and Workplace Health and Safety Regulations are two examples of governmental regulatory policies on the health care system.
Sources
United States Department of Labor. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Retrieved on Monday, January 17, 2011 from: http://osha.gov/
United States Department of Labor. Safety and health topics. Retrieved on Monday, January 17, 2011 from: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/nursinghome/index.html
What is HIPAA? Retrieved on Monday, January 17, 2011 from: http://whatishipaa.org/
