What´s HIPAA Violations?

Privacy is of the utmost importance within a medical practice, ethically a patient’s privacy is very important as a medical record contains information regarding a patient’s health. According to

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act also known as HIPAA has set a national standard for the handling of electronically stored medical records. Medical confidentiality protects conversations between a patient and his or her doctor from being used against the patient in court. It is a part of the rules of evidence in many common law jurisdictions. The penalties for violating HIPPA are based on the level of negligence and can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation or per record, with a maximum of $1.5 million per year. Violations can also carry criminal charges that can result in jail time.

I agree with you, Dr. Zhou should have clear understanding of the HIPAA law, that is part of orientation practice for everyone who has access to patient information in the health care field. For Dr. Zhou to access the patient electronic records after his termination is very alarming. Everyone agrees that his plea deal of $2000 of fine and four months in prison was a lesser punishment than what he deserves. According the HIPAA law he could spent more than 10 years in prison for his action .What is your thoughts. Don’t you think UCLA should have been liable for failing to protect the patient information.

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.

Since HIPAA become mandatory on most of the health care organization, patient information is more secure compared to previous. Health care organization are investing huge amount of fund for safety measures to protect the patient information and i think this is the main concern in today's advanced health care

The act is meant to followed by the rules, but the state can change certain thing according to the way it believes HIPAA should be done. If someone were to commit theft, he or she would have to pay thousand in fines and be sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. The hospitals and medical institutes must call, mail, email, or use the media to inform the victims that his or her information is a risk. They will have up to 30 days to contact everyone involved or an additional 30 if he or she is having trouble finding a large number of people or if the police have to become part of the solution.

HIPPA Breaches A Common Legal Issue in Healthcare When it pertains to patient health information discretion is paramount. Protecting patients from threats that could endanger their rights is essential and the primary reason for safeguarding their personal information is to secure the interest of the individuals who are entrusting the organization with their information. There are however breaches to individuals’ private health information. In the healthcare field one common legal issue is HIPPA and data breaches.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets security standards for safeguarding important patient health information that is being stored and maintained in analog and digital forms. As new technologies continue to facilitate the healthcare industry’s transition to paperless processes, health care providers, insurance companies, and other institutions are also growing increasingly dependent on electronic information systems to manage their HIPAA compliance programs. As a result, the safety and security of sensitive health data has become a major concern across the board. Security Risks and Challenges Today, health care professionals are using technology extensively in almost every aspect of the practice.

(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).

The primary goal of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of health care information and help the health care industry control administrative costs. HIPAA is divided into different titles or sections that address a unique aspect of health insurance reform. Two main sections are Title I dealing with Portability and Title II that focuses on Administrative Simplification. Title I allows individuals to carry their health insurance from one job to another so that they do not have a lapse in coverage. It also restricts health plans from requiring preexisting conditions on individuals who switch from one health plan to another.

It does not matter the reason you got, give directly or indirectly patient information to someone or the simple thing to check any patient information without a consent form is illegal. HIPAA do not play with that. Any violation to HIPAA occurring on or after 2/18/2009 will have a penalty of $100 to $50,000 or more per violation. A person who knowingly obtains or discloses individually identifiable health information in violation of the Privacy Rule may face a criminal penalty too. HIPAA is not about the money, is about people lives, people safety, people privacy and rights.

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