The Health Insurance Portability and Accountancy Act was introduced in 1996 to protect the information of the patient is disclosed without consent. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA Privacy Policy Rule to implement HIPAA requirements. The HIPAA Security Rule protects all types of health information, including bloodborne pathogens.
The HIPAA covers three entities.
Health plans - the cost of medical care are covered in health plans. Health, dental, vision, and health maintenance organizations, Medicare supplement insurers, long-term care insurers etc., are included in health plans. The less than 50 participants in the group health plan will not be covered by the body. If a health plan business is involved in an insurance entity, the HIPAA regulations will be applied.
Healthcare clearinghouses - the non-standard information received or sent in the standard format. In medical billing, the claims information from healthcare providers, check the claims for errors, and verify the structure of each claim is compatible with the payer's software is received and inspected by the healthcare clearinghouses. HIPAA includes Healthcare clearinghouses, reprising companies, and community health management information.
Under HIPAA Transactions Rule, HHS has established some rules to follow while making health-related transactions made electronically, including claims, benefits, referral authorized requests etc.
Business associates- The health information used or disclosed by the business organization for the functions services to be performed. These services include claims processing, data analysis, utilization review, and billing. Business Associate Contract is prepared to protect the health information of the person used to perform business services or activities to be followed by the business associates.
Importance of HIPAA Privacy Policy
Privacy
Security of electronic records
Administration simplification
Insurance portability
The situation where the information can be disclosed
Treatment, payment and healthcare operations.
The use or disclosure of the information is permitted without the permission of the person, whether it be any health problem, including bloodborne pathogen, when it is used for the public benefit, although certain conditions are applied.
If the law uses the information.
If the person is harmed in any way, the information is used by the authority.
Information is disclosed and used to investigate if the person is dead
The report can be revealed in the case of organ donation.
HIPAA Privacy Policy Violation
The information regarding the patient is kept without taking any security or locking it.
Unencrypted data.
Hacking
Employment training is the most crucial part and impacts security a lot. Lack of training leads to the problem.
3rd party disclosure of PHI
How to avoid the violation of the HIPAA Privacy Policy?
Enable encryption leads to double protection of PHI and is the critical factor in avoiding contract
breaches.
Cyber security tools like antivirus software must be used.
Documents must be locked or kept in a safe place to avoid violation.
Business associates agreement is a must.
Conclusion
HIPPA Privacy Policy is the best way to protect an individual's health details from being disclosed. If it is revealed, it may lead to the problem, but in some instances, HIPAA allows the use of patient's information which needs to be known, which is mentioned in the article.
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