HIPAA Discussing Most Important Aspects HIPAA Privacy

¶ … HIPAA

Discussing Most Important Aspects HIPAA Privacy Security Law Critiquing Effect Regarding Protection Security Personal Health Information (PHI)

HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act. This is an act signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21st, 1996. The maim aspects of this law is protection and provision of privacy to a patient's medical history The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003.

This law ensures that no patient information is ever spilled to the public. The law also governs against any fraudulent activity from taking place in regards to a patient's medical history and identity. To protect a patient's privacy, the law states the kind of information regarding a patient that can be released, and it also specifies who the information can be released to. The law requires that any organization handling patient information to establish safeguards that ensure privacy of personal health information. The personal health information includes date of birth, social security number, or ZIP code. This is information that one can use to personally identify an individual.

The most important aspect of this law is patient privacy, health information privacy, and safe keeping of patient information or records. The privacy law of HIPAA requires that health organizations put in place necessary steps in ensuring patient records are stored securely. The records include electronic and manual records. The law also requires that a patient is presented with a privacy notice copy when they first visit a medical institution. Under the HIPAA law, the patient has a right over their personal health records. This means that the institution has to obtain consent from the patient before they share or release the information. The law also stipulates a patient has the right to obtain copies of their personal health information. The patient is protected further by ensuring that confidential discussion held with a care provider is not disclosed to unauthorized persons. The law has a rule that allows a patient to alter their personal health information by adding or removing information.

Allowing patients to alter their personal information would ensure that the information the institution has is updated appropriately, but it could also lead to patients altering their records in order to hide some vital health information. The law should only allow patients to alter personal identifiable information, and not their medical records. There maybe times that a patient recovers from a certain allergy and the law would require that the patient amends this on their medical records. This will ensure that care providers can now administer proper medications.

HIPAA has a security rule that ensure all electronic records are stored safely, maintain integrity, and confidentiality is maintained Burke, Tyler, & Weill, 2010.

This rule protects against unauthorized access to patient information, by requiring health institutions to have secure storage facilities. The electronic records should also be protected against potential loss. This means that the records should be stored in a secure location where there is no threat of misplacement or loss. Unsecure storage facilities would lead to leakage of patient information and can result in identity theft. The personnel charged with handling of patient information should also be made aware of the HIPAA rules, and the penalties. The personnel should be trained, and not all patient records should be availed to each personnel.

The HIPAA law has increased the number of paper work a patient has to fill out before they can receive treatment. The patient has to read and sign to indicate agreement with the privacy policy of each health institution they visit. The privacy statement provides information regarding how the institution will store the data, who has access to the data, and when they can release this data. The statement also specifies how the institution will ensure that the patient's information is safely stored.

The HIPAA law requires that all patient records be stored electronically. This poses a grave danger to health care facilities. If the institution is not able to procure the necessary electronic record management systems, it would be forced to use an insecure system that would be prone to attacks. The electronic systems proposed by the HIPAA law should also have identifiers for the various personnel authorized to access patient records. This ensures that an audit trail is there in case a patient's privacy is breached. It also allows for easy sharing of information between providers and employees are able to share information freely. This would be a benefit to the patient as their information would be available in all departments within the institution.