...THE HEALTH INSURACE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPAA) Abstract This paper will explain what HIPAA is, a brief history and background of it; why it is so important, what are the rules, who is protected, who needs to follow the rules and who does not, who can see the patent information, and what kind of right the patent has. In general, this paper will cover and the importance of HIPAA, and the impacts that have on consumers and providers. This paper examines Mark A. Rothstein (2013) The Federal Register published the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) omnibus amendments to the Health Insurance Portability Act (HIPAA) Privacy, security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Keywords: HIPAA privacy and security of health care records. THE HEALTH INSURANCE PORTABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT (HIPAA) Understanding HIPAA What is HIPAA? Department of health defined HIPAA as the federal Health insurance portability and accountability act. The objective is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the health care industry control administrative cost. HIPAA is written in 1996, enacted in April 14, 2001 and mandated in April 15, 2003. HIPAA is composed of two main rules; The HIPAA privacy rule and The HIPAA security rule. The HIPAA privacy rule provides for the privacy of individual’s personally identifiable health...
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...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...
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...Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance Guide US Department of Health and Human Services Information Security Program Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance Guide September 14, 2005 Page i Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance Guide US Department of Health and Human Services Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................... i Preface.........................................................................................................iii Document Change History ............................................................................iv 1. Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2. 2.1 Purpose ........................................................................................... 1 Background...................................................................................... 1 Scope.............................................................................................. 2 Document Organization ..................................................................... 4 HIPAA Administrative Simplification Requirements ........................... 5 General Overview ............................................................................. 5 2.1.1 HIPAA Administrative Simplification Goals and Objectives ............. 5...
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...HIPAA Summary Janine Yoder HCS/320 March 3, 2015 Lynn Bell HIPAA Summary Going to the doctors or hospital is scary enough, so they try and make it easier, so you are worried about multiple things. They work and take your privacy and rights out of it and have it protected. The Federal Act of 1996, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act is to help people be able to keep health insurance a little easier and protect our information from being given away. The confidentiality and security of our health care information, and it controls the cost of administrative in the health industry. You can go to the doctors and not have to worry about them sharing your information with anyone without your permission because of the HIPAA law. Protecting the patient’s rights is the number one priority when it comes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Even though, the cost of administrative, privacy and right because security of health care information and confidentiality. The implications for health communications, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has different types. Civil and criminal penalty and violations up to but not limited to two hundred and fifty thousand in fines and up to ten years in prison. This information is crucial because you do not want to be giving out someone’s information on accident. Plus you would not want your information out there if it did not have to be. That is how people...
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...Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Changing Lives Heather Cuthbert COM 102 June 22, 2014 CollegeAmerica Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Changing Lives The acronym HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA was enacted by congress August 21, 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton the same year. It had required the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HSS) to propose standards protecting the privacy of individually identifiable health information within a year by August 21, 1997 (Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, n.d.). The overall purpose of HIPAA is to improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in group and individual markets. HIPAA has changed lives in many ways for patients, doctors and medical offices. As a patient it has helped to make them feel more secure with not only their health insurance, but also their personal information. Doctors have had to adjust their offices in many ways in order to comply with HIPAA. Medical offices have had to make changes in how they perform everyday tasks, including the medical offices use of electronic records (Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, n.d.). Effect on Patients HIPAA has made a great impact on the privacy of patient’s personal information. As patient’s it is important to know our rights. Patient’s now have a specific place to file a complaint and there is recourse if a medical practice violates the patient’s...
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...Information Technology Acts BIS/220 February 25, 2013 Abstract The basis of this paper is to explain the advances in information technology that ultimately resulted with the creation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and the Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act (COPPA). These two acts are beneficial to the privacy of oneself regarding medical files and the protection that the Federal Trade Commission provides to children while they are using the Internet. The paper will go farther into detail about why these acts were created and how they are beneficial to society today and for our future. Information Technology Acts The many advances of information technology have resulted in ethical issues requiring the creation of many important acts. Information technology is a very important branch of engineering that deals with the use of computers and telecommunications to retrieve and store and transmit information. Two acts specifically are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and the Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act (COPPA). These acts were carried out for many reasons, including; but not limited to privacy of personal health care information and protecting our children’s identities on the Internet. According to Sage Knowledge (2009), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, also known as HIPAA, is a federal...
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...HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 T he Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly referred to as HIPAA, became a federal law in 1996. The act contains insurance reform provisions and introduces the establishment of a fraud and abuse control program when rendering medical care to Medicare patients. In 2000, regulations were established to protect the privacy of personal health information maintained by health care providers, health plans, hospitals, health care clearinghouses, and health insurers. These regulations became effective in 2003 (2004 for small health plans). Violators of HIPAA may be subjected to fines, prison, or both. HIPAA is organized into three parts: • Privacy regulations. HIPAA regulations guide health care providers with overall privacy measures, such as turning the charts toward the wall and making sure the computer screen is not visible. Five forms are required (privacy notice, acknowledgment, authorization, business associate agreement, and trading partner agreement). • Transaction standards. Requirements must be followed when putting the office software into HIPAA compliance. • Security regulations. HIPAA requires health care providers to keep computers safe. The first two parts had 2003 deadlines for compliance and the third part has a 2005 deadline. To adhere to the HIPAA regulations, a medical practice must have an appointed privacy official draft privacy policies and procedures, and implement a...
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...and history on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Following the background will be details about issues that are address within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The purpose of this paper is to provide a foundation with providing some information about HIPAA. Background The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by Congress in 1996 in response to several issues facing health care coverage, privacy, security and fraud in the United States (ALL THINGS MEDICAL BILLING, 2011, para. 2). Before HIPAA, rules and regulations varied by state, there was no real consistency. Also, there was confusion as to which regulations were applicable and to whom. Did the rules apply in the states where the organization was doing business or where the organization was based? There was also no uniformity between state and federal requirements (ALL THINGS MEDICAL BILLING, 2011, para. 3). With regard to privacy, there were numerous uncoordinated federal acts which addressed privacy in some form. Prior to HIPAA, there was no standard authority for enforcement of fraud and abuse that applied to state and federal health care programs (ALL THINGS MEDICAL BILLING, 2011, para. 4). Congress recognized the increased use of electronic technology, the potential for abuse and the need to establish security. We all have heard news stories about electronic information being lost, stolen,...
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...advances in information technology that has resulted in new ethical issues arising that has necessitated the creation of various congressional acts. We will review two of these congressional acts, which are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In both of these congressional acts, we will look at its purpose, the ethical issue/reason requiring the congressional act along with potential implications if the act did not exist. First, we will discuss the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Over the years as information technology became more advanced and widely used in the health and medical field, control measures needed to be established in order to provide additional protection to the rights of patients. On the same note, the medical field needed to be able to quickly share information through information technology in order to provide timely patient care as well. As a result of the need for patient rights while providing and protecting our society through information technology, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was established in 1996. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act require medical offices specifically doctors to ensure the protection and privacy of their patients medical information by using a nation-wide standard format when conducting transactions through the use of information systems. In addition, patient information may be...
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...Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Other short title(s) Long title Kassebaum-Kennedy Act, Kennedy-Kassebaum Act An Act To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes. HIPAA Colloquial acronym(s) Enacted by the 104th United States Congress Citations Public Law Stat. Pub.L. 104–191 110 Stat. 1936 [1] [2] Legislative history [3] • • • • • • • • • Introduced in the House as H.R. 3103 [4] by Bill Archer (D-TX) on March 18, 1996 [5] Committee consideration by: House Ways and Means Passed the House on March 28, 1996 (267–151 Passed the Senate on April 23, 1996 (100-0 [6] ) [7] ) [8] ) and by the Senate on , in lieu of S. 1028 Reported by the joint conference committee on July 31, 1996; agreed to by the House on August 1, 1996 (421–2 [9] August 2, 1996 (98–0 ) Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996 e v t [10] The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA; Pub.L. 104–191 [1], 110 Stat. 1936 [2] , enacted...
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...Jennifer Sanchez MOD 160 Night Class M.B&C Chapter 2: Compliance, Privacy, Fraud, and Abuse in Insurance Billing 1. Define compliance. 2. Name the two provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that relate most to health care. 3. Explain the difference between Titles I insurance Reform and Title II Administrative Simplification. 4. Describe the Privacy Rule under HIPAA. 5. Define protected health information (PHI). 6. Identify the difference between disclosure and use of PHI. 7. Illustrate the difference between privileged and nonprivileged information. 8. Explain patient rights under HIPAA. 9. Explain responsibilities of the health care organization to protect patient rights under HIPAA. 10. State the guidelines for HIPAA privacy compliance. 11. List the three major categories of security safeguards under HIPAA. 12. Define the provisions of the HITECH Act. 13. List the civil and criminal penalties of noncompliance with HIPAA regulations. 14. Identify the difference between fraud and abuse. 15. Identify the Federal and State laws that regulate health care fraud and abuse. 16. List the various fraud and abuse audit programs 17. Describer the basic components of an effective compliance program. Compliance Defined * All regulations, recommendations, and expectations of regulating agencies must be met to be in compliance. * The professional elements...
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... S. Department of Health and Human Services [U. S. DHHS], n.d., p. 1). GCH, in response to the possibility of this type of catastrophic event, began moving to EMR in 2000. Staff training began immediately on EMR use. As an administrator of a hospital located in an area prone to hurricanes, priority is placed on preparing the staff for the possibility of a mass catastrophe. Staff is trained on privacy issues such as Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and ways to prevent the accidental disclosure of health information. Staff members are required to complete yearly education to maintain their competency in this area.essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise” reconstructed (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services [U. S. DHHS], n.d., p. 1). GCH, in response to the possibility of this type of catastrophic event, began moving to EMR in 2000. Staff training began immediately on EMR use. As an administrator of a hospital located in an area prone to hurricanes, priority is placed on preparing the staff for the possibility of a mass catastrophe. Staff is trained on privacy issues such as Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and ways to prevent the accidental disclosure of health information. Staff members are required to complete yearly education to maintain their competency in this area.essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise” reconstructed (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services...
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...How HIPAA Violations Affect the Medical Billing Process HCR/220 October 7, 2012 How HIPAA Violations Affect the Medical Billing Process In this paper we will discuss how HIPAA violations affect the medical billing process and why HIV and AIDS information is more sensitive than other types of health conditions. We will also examine the social, legal, and ethical ramifications of improper information disclosure. In 1996 on August 21, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the Federal Government and signed into law by President Bill Clinton (HIPAA – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 2011). According to “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (2012), “HIPAA does the following; provides the ability to transfer and continue health insurance coverage for millions of American workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs, reduces health care fraud and abuse, mandates industry-wide standards for health care information on electric billing and other processes, and requires the protection and confidential handling of protected health information” (What is HIPAA?). The main reason HIPAA was enacted was to protect patient’s personal health information regardless of its severity. Their personal health information is just that, theirs! For that reason, among many other, it is very important to know that a patient’s personal health information is not to be shared with any unauthorized...
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...Matrix Health Care Law Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010 Describe the health care law (75 to 150 words) The Hunger-free kids act is a nutrition program that provides all children with healthy food in school and to low income families. Because of this act schools are playing a larger role in children’s health. Included in this legislation other programs that focus on hunger has come into play such as: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants and Children (WIC), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program, After School Meal Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). The programs under the Hunger-free kids act do not have a specific expiration date however, the Congress will periodically review and reauthorize funding that is allocated to the program. Analyze the importance of the law (75 to 150 words) The Hunger-free kids act was a key step for our nation’s toward the effort to provide all children with healthy food and education about healthy food. This program is so important because millions of children now receive meals through the school lunch program and the other programs that are attached to it. There are so many people especially children living in food insecure households and the rate of child hood obesity is at an all-time high. Through legislation there has been improvements and provisions that provide healthier and more nutritious food options, education and to help children...
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...maintain information security. Information must be protected from those without a readily need to know to perform organizational business functions. Unauthorized access to information can have a detrimental impact on an organization from a legal and operating perspective. One of the primary preventive controls that provide an organization with many operational benefits is continuous log management policies. In addition to helping solve network security related issues, logs can be extremely beneficial in identifying unauthorized access and behaviors. Security logs assist in identifying policy violators, fraudulent behavior, real time operational problems, and provide necessary data to perform auditing, transaction back tracking and forensic analysis. In addition to the many benefits of having policies in place for continuous log analysis, standards and regulations have increased business awareness of the requirements for archiving and reviewing system logs as part of daily continuity. Some of the influential regulations that reference log management and other information security task include the following. • Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) requires entities to ensure the development and execution of organizational processes and internal controls designed to secure information systems. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) encompasses information security benchmarks for protecting consumer health information. Violation...
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