Evolution of Health Care: Effects of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HCS/533
AHMED JAMAL

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have been under a continuum since it was signed during the Clinton administration in 1996 (Schwartz, 2003). Policies have been implemented to protect patients’ privacy. What the establishment of HIPAA has enforced is that patients’ information must be protected from all unauthorized parties. Patients’ information is being stored electronically. The electronic form will protect the patient’s record from all parties involved with any change that a patient is involved with including insurance companies, employers, and health care providers (Degaspari, 2011). HIPAA has become a routine function in the health care system. Safeguards have been installed on facilities that have computers that store or have access to patient information. HIPAA’s involvement with the electronic system has improved the transmission of patient data while decreasing the number of errors which by comparison improves efficiency. Organizations must implement specific security objectives under HIPAA to be compliant. Under HIPAA standards any unauthorized exposure regardless of the circumstances to which the violation takes place is harmful to the patient. The continued changes have revisited the liability of violators which suggests any organization that is involved or responsible for such actions will be held accountable regardless of the individual or reason for the violation. What this paper will reveal is whether the evolution of HIPAA have instructed a standard not only for the welfare of the patient, but does HIPAA help insurance companies, providers, and other entities with access to patient data take the extra step to validate the patient’s privacy.

Health Care Delivery and HIPAA
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