Health Management IT
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Health Management IT The Willow Bend Policy protects the information on health for the storage and destruction of both paper and the electronic health records based on the Florida state regulations, the Medicare participation conditions and the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act). Among the common criteria required in the in the Medicare participation conditions is the provision of a medical record service that caters for the patient’s medical record. In this policy, the health information is put in electronic documents in the Apex Patient folder. The Willow Bend Policy is in line with the HIPAA. It maintains the converted paper health records into electronic health records maintained in an area that is safe and secure. This is because the HIPAA requires that the patient information is stored with confidentiality. The privacy provisions that include the security provision are also stated in the HIPAA Administrative Simplification provisions. This is so that the patient health information (PHI) is safely stored and its transmission and usage is done properly. The HIPAA privacy rule sets conditions that aim at protecting the health information which to be used and disclosed for the purpose of research. It also protects the rights for discharged patients to acquire their own information held by the covered entities. This Policy thus helps in maintaining the privacy and confidentiality that is required by the HIPAA (United States, 2004). Based on the state regulations of Florida, there is a law that requires the health care providers to keep the medical records for a specific period. Florida State requires that the public hospitals keep records for a not less than seven years after discharge of the patient. The Will Bend Record Policy is in