Health insurance legislation and privacy protection in American healthcare

¶ … Integrative Studies

Portfolio Artifacts

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 Legislation

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was a piece of legislation that stands as one of the most important changes in American health care in the modern age. Among other changes, HIPAA completely revolutionized the way that health care-related information is protected in connection with the privacy and confidentiality of patient interests. Under the HIPAA, most of the information furnished by patients or generated by health care providers is deemed to be protected health information (PHI). All such information is strictly protected from unauthorized sharing and disclosure by rules that, since 2003 (generally), require all organizations and entities handling such information to adopt very specific procedures for ensuring that it is properly safeguarded and protected against breaches of the patient's statutory right of confidentiality of all protected information.

The implementation of HIPAA has changed the way that health care providers practice because it imposes strict rules about the collection, maintenance, and disclosure of PHI. Those changes include the establishment of comprehensive rules requiring all health care provider entities to hire or designate health information officers and to provide regular training to all staff (both paid and unpaid) who might come into contact with PHI during the course of their professional duties. The Act prescribes substantial monetary fines for inadvertent violations and penal sentences for repeated or deliberate HIPAA violations. Naturally, all health care providers and entities with access to PHI had to radically change their business operations to comply with HIPAA policies after 2003.

2. Health Care Reform Act of 2010

The Health Care Reform Act of 2010 was the first comprehensive piece of legislation passed by Congress to address many of the systemic problems in the American health care system. Some of the more significant changes attributable to the legislation were that it: (1) increased the availability of health insurance; (2) prohibited health insurance companies from withdrawing coverage or denying coverage in many situations; (3) provided tax credits to small businesses to encourage them to offer health insurance; (4) increased funds for seniors for prescription drugs; (5) limited the amount of profit that health insurance companies may retain by mandating that 80% of premium income must be spent on services; (6) increased certain Medicare payroll taxes; (7) required individuals to obtain health care insurance; and (7) provided subsidies to assist Americans afford health insurance. This artifact is crucial to any genuine understanding of the American healthcare system after 2010.

Conceptual Relevance of Integrative Studies in a Healthcare Career

This course has been tremendously helpful to anybody anticipating a career in any form of health care or health care-related industries and services. It is obvious that it is no longer sufficient for future health care workers and service providers to study only courses directly related to the actual delivery of health care services. In the modern age of health care, it is essential for professionals in any related field to understand the issues facing patients, health care providers, employers, and other stakeholders. In particular, the Integrative Studies course combines the fields and skills associated with essential aspects of professionalism in general as well as particularly in connection with the safe, ethical, and legally complaint delivery of health care services.

The course provides a comprehensive and very useful overview of the business issues that arise in health care and of the various economic, political, and social forces that determine many of the most relevant variables in that regard. The material outlining economic forces and variables is helpful to any health care professional, especially in light of the current national economic crises and, even more so, because of the direct impact that the continually increasing cost of health care services have had and continue to have on the national economy. With health care costs approaching forty percent of the national gross domestic product and being responsible for such a large percentage of personal bankruptcy filings in the United States, it is impossible to develop an accurate perspective of the realities of health care in the U.S. without an appreciation of the elements and economic variables that are responsible for that situation.

Naturally, communication skills and the effective use of multiple media in modern business communications are essential to future business professionals, especially in any industry that is so heavily involved in interpersonal communications about potentially sensitive issues and topics. In that regard, the Integrative Studies course provides extremely valuable practice in the arts of communicating effectively in a wide range of applications, relationships, and professional contexts.

The course also provides a valuable overview of the manner in which relatively isolated actions can impact much larger segments of the community and even the global environment. In an age of ever-increasing globalization and the greater interconnectedness of health care (and other professional) entities, that awareness and the ability to communicate effectively cannot be overvalued either. Obviously, that awareness and those skills are also essential to the effective marketing of health care services in any medium.

Finally, the other two most valuable aspects of the Integrative Studies course were the exposure and practice to critical thinking skills and to basic elements of personal financial responsibility. Critical thinking is an incredibly important skill in virtually any modern field; it is even more important in health care, especially since modern health care is based on the scientific principles of evidence-based practice. Personal finance issues have become even more important today that they were before, because of the challenges facing current college graduates in terms of finding employment in their fields and because if the need to overcome the other challenges attributable to the long-term economic recession and slow recovery.