HIPAA Compliance Summary

St. David’s South Austin Medical Center (the “Hospital”) has received a letter from John Craven, an attorney representing former Hospital patient Ramona Reeves. Mr. Craven states that the Hospital’s entering into a Settlement Agreement with GEICO Insurance Company after the Hospital’s receipt of Ms. Reeves’ “HIPPA (sic) Revocation/Cancellation of Prior Authorization” constituted a wrongful disclosure of her individually identifiable health information (“PHI”). You have asked us to evaluate whether the provision of billing information and/or entering into the settlement agreement with GEICO violated HIPAA. The answer is no.

The electronic transactions that are covered by the rules are: Claims, Payment, Claim Status, Eligibility, Referral Certification and Coordination of Benefits. HIPAA may refer to code sets as medical codes or nonmedical codes. Typically maintained by professional organizations or other organizations.

As it relates to HIPAA, incentives for individuals are being able to access his or her information in a timely manner by participating in the EHR incentive program. The programs operate together by making certain information available quicker to patients. On the other hand, DDE does not offer incentives because it is an option but DDE does work hand in hand with EHR because DDE is data transferred directly to providers.

You are correct Vaschar, the HIPAA privacy rule does play a big part in the role of keeping patient information secure. In the instance when a patients information is given to a fellow medical provider for continuity of care to establish a consult appointment is not an issue, but should that patients medical records need to be released between the medical provider and the other provider of care a medical records release authorization should be signed by either the patient or the patients representative. In the case where a medical provider wishes to distribute a product for another company it can do so without any HIPAA violation just as long as it does not pass on any patient demographic or patient care information to the company. If

When examining the case of the State of California against Dr Zhou, we can clearly conclude that the HIPAA law of which was convicted of violated is not just words written on paper to buy patients' confidence, it is meaningful law set in place to protect patient privacy and any ones violating this law, regardless of your position in the health care field can be persecuted punished for violating the law, even in the absence damages evidence resulting from the violation of the law. The purpose of this post is to discuss the case of the State of California against the physician, Dr Huping Zhou, in this post I will review the HIPAA law, penalties for violation of the law and why I felt that Doctor Zhou was very fortunate for his punishments four

Hospital Employee received 18 months in jail for HIPAA Violations On February 24, 2015, 30 years old Joshua Hippler, was found guilty for convicting HIPPA Violation and has been sentenced to serve 18 months in jail. Hippler was a former employee at East Texas hospital where he was alleged to have accessed to Protected Health Information. But instead he was intentionally selling patient’s information for his own personal gain. Hippler was indicted by a federal grand jury on Mar. 26, 2014 and the case was heard by United States Magistrate Judge John D. Love on August 28, 2014.

The walls in the office of healthcare providers are made sound proof by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). Sound proof meaning that each patient’s healthcare information can only be shared between the provider and the patient; their information is required to remain confidential by law. In 1996, HIPPA was passed by congress; the act included regulations that would help to protect patient privacy and health information (Petersen, 2001). After reading the novel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot one may be appalled and think that what occurs in the novel is a complete violation of HIPPA. But, the time frame needs to be taken into consideration.

As a result of HIPPA Privacy Rules the processes of the healthcare has changed. The HIPPA Privacy Rule may now supersede state laws. At first the Privacy Rule was only a federal floor or minimum of privacy requirements so it does not preempt or supersede, stricter state statues or other federal statues. The word stricter refers to state and federal statues that provide individuals with greater privacy protection and gives individuals greater rights with the respect to their personal health information.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in the year 1996. As a broad Congressional attempt at healthcare reform HIPAA was first introduced into Congress as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill named after two of its leading sponsors. The law has several different purposes that mainly focus on the protection of the healthcare provider and their patient depending on the circumstances and situations that may typically occur in a medical environment. The act itself was passed with two main objectives.

(September 30, 2013) - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published amended rules applicable to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 in January 2013. As explained by the Secretary of HHS, healthcare has experienced significant changes since HIPAA was enacted in 1996. The implementation of electronic medical records is just one of those changes. The new HIPAA regulations are designed to provide patients with better privacy protection, and additional rights not included in the original HIPAA rules.

Nurses and doctors take the oath to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of patients. Patients and their medical conditions should not be discussed with anyone who is not treating the patient. Electronic health records are held to the same standards as nurses in that information is to be kept between, and shared only with the immediate care team. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly nor are the violation fines cheap. Depending on the violation, a hospital can be fined from $100 to $50,000 per violation (National Nurse 2011 p 23).

Regulations and Implementations The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is legislation passed in 1996 that safeguards the rights of employees and their families as it relates to their health insurance coverage whenever they transition or lose employment (Health IT.gov, 2016). The law required national guidelines and standards be developed concerning electronic health care exchanges as well as identifiers being assigned to providers, health insurance benefits, and employers to be recognized nationally (Health IT.gov, 2016). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was implemented in 2009 granting Health and Human Services (HHS) the control over creating programs to enhance efficacy, safety, and overall quality of health care via health information technology (IT) with a focus on privacy and security during electronic health data interfacing (Health IT. gov, 2016).

Unfortunately HIPAA violations happen every year in our country. In fact, a situation happened in a New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center on May 7th 2010. The HIPAA violation happened after the electronic health records of 6,800 patients ended up on Google for the world to see. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who are responsible for HIPAA enforcement laws deeply investigated this case. It was discovered that a Columbia University physician who developed applications for New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University, attempted to deactivate a personally owned computer server on the network containing electronic protected health information (ePHI).

As records were shared electronically rules were implemented for clinicians to follow known as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule ,2013). These rules were implemented for clinicians to protect the

The goals of HIPAA are to ensure medical coverage scope for workers and their families when they change or lose their employments and to secure wellbeing information trustworthiness, classification, and accessibility. The objectives are also to enhance our health care framework by making it more proficient, less difficult, and less