HIPAA and OSHA: Healthcare Laws and Regulations

Introduction

There are numerous laws and regulations that apply to healthcare businesses and the healthcare industry. Two of the most significant are the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations established under OSHA and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Workplace Health and Safety Regulations

A safe environment is essential to every aspect of healthcare delivery. There are numerous health and safety issues associated with healthcare agencies and centers, and all of these have been addressed by a series of laws passed by the U.S. government to ensure the safety and protection of both caregivers and recipients of care.

Some of these issues include chemical and gas exposures, hazards from lifting and other physically demanding tasks, respiratory hazards (for instance, in a medical laboratory), and other occupational risks associated with large healthcare facilities.

OSHA standards (Occupational Safety and Health Act), established by President Nixon on December 29, 1970, refer to the specific laws and regulations implemented to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities by issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety, hygiene, and health. Although OSHA applies to workplaces in general, many — if not all — of its directives apply to healthcare centers and institutions, with special procedures implemented for settings such as medical laboratories and facilities dealing with chemical emissions. In fact, it has been calculated that nursing homes and personal care facilities have one of the highest rates of injury and illness among all industries.

The HIPAA Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) refers to a set of information privacy laws that protect the health information of individuals and prevent their data from being disclosed except for significant and authorized reasons. Great confidentiality and care must be taken to ensure the security and protection of such data.

This Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on August 21, 1996, and is also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA — Public Law 104-191), or the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information.

More specifically, HIPAA states that an individual under the care of any health organization — public or private, mental or physical — is entitled to: (i) procedures of privacy rights, meaning that information regarding their health or person cannot be revealed to others without their permission, and (ii) established procedures for the exercise of those privacy rights.

The advantages of HIPAA are that it gives individuals control over their health information, establishes national standards that healthcare providers must comply with, and helps limit the inappropriate use of personal information by healthcare facilities or the corruption of ethical procedures.

A problem with HIPAA, however, is that the mechanism used to authenticate a patient and enable access to private records relies on the individual's Social Security identification number. This is itself problematic, as it may actually serve to reduce overall privacy rather than enhance it. The HIPAA privacy rule does permit disclosure under special circumstances where an individual's explicit permission is not required.

Conclusion

Government has established a series of rules and regulations that keep healthcare facilities in check and direct their conduct toward clients so that those clients are respected and treated in an ethical manner. HIPAA and the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations under OSHA are two clear examples of governmental regulatory policy applied to the U.S. healthcare system, each serving to protect both those who deliver care and those who receive it.