...HIPPA PII Protection IFSM 201 Due 04 Oct 2015 Everyone has heard about HIPPA, which is the common acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This federal regulation has three priorities that focus on are protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of patient electronic protected health information (EPHI), guarding against reasonable possible expectable threats to the security or integrity of said EPHI, and protecting EPHI against unauthorized disclosure (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2008) . The protection of the CIA of EPHI is important because our patients rely on this information’s accuracy and availability in emergency situations for use by medical professionals, while the confidentiality is important to ensure this personal information does not fall into the wrong hands and to ensure the patient’s civil rights are not violated. There have been many recent high level HIPPA violations recently. Some of the most damaging breaches that released the most protected personal information (PII) occurred at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2013 one of the largest known EPHI/PII breaches at the VA was discovered through the conduct of a thorough investigation and reported by Steven Marco of HIPAAOne.com that “found there were an astounding 14,215 violations that affected 101,018 veterans and 551 VA employees at 167 facilities since 2010. These violations included using patient information...
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...HIPAA Security Compliance When a hospital is first starting out they need to make sure they have HIPAA security compliance in place so they can protect themselves from fines and help protect the patient’s information. Some things that the hospital should implement in order to be compliant with HIPAA are; policies and procedures, compliance process, and a tracking mechanism. The first thing would be to have policies and procedures in place. If the hospital is going to go with EHR or electronic health records they need to have a policy in place that specifies how grant access, terminate access and how it should be used. They need to make sure that they know that a policy “is a set of statements, including decisions, and a policy indicates what an organization intends to do” (HIPAA checklist). So with that being said the policy towards HIPAA compliance needs to state how they will use the HIPAA act, the determination of what happens if an employee does not follow the policy how will it be dealt with. It will also state how to deal with a threat to the company that could be an outside source attacking the company. Then with the procedures it will be what they intend to do. If there is a breach happening what is the company going to do to stop the threat, what if an employee is terminated how are they going to deactivate their access and how quickly will it be deactivated so they cannot still access any information. With the HIPAA compliance process it will show the approach...
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...APPLICATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECTURES 1 Application and Technology Architectures CIS510 Advance System Analysis and Design NAME Dr. Matthew Anyanwu 27 July 2010 APPLICATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECTURES 2 Abstract After reading about Reliable Pharmaceutical Service (RPS) at the end of Chapter 1, this paper will Create an application architecture plan for RPS to follow for the next five years and additionally create a graphic technology architecture plan. Additionally, we will write a page narrative with graphic depictions describing the plan and including, an overview of the application architecture, an overview of the technology architecture, and ideas for how the architectures will evolve over the next five years. APPLICATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECTURES 3 Reliable Pharmaceutical Service (RPS) is having some serious issues internally with its staff and also stiff competition from other drug stores (i.e., Walgreens, CVS, etc.). As part of the RPS IT Team, it is necessary for us to develop an application architecture plan so that we can keep the company alive. Without it, management may be forced to file for bankruptcy. A necessary feature of application architecture is its flexibility to adapt itself to constantly and rapidly changing environmental...
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...specific laws years ago that protected a patients privacy and rights. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) which was signed in August of 1996 which became a law under President Bill Clinton (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act includes provisions for: health insurance portability, tax- related provisions, fraud and abuse control, revenue and offset provisions, group health plan requirements, and administrative simplification requirements (Physicians Billing Associates International, 2006). The HIPPA act was put into place as a standard law used to protect a patient’s personal health and medical records nationwide. This act was created to help health care workers to keep better control of a patient’s personal information. HIPPA has a privacy rule that concerns an individual’s health plans; the rule helps to provide health care workers information that would be needed to transmit an individual’s vision, health, prescription, and any other type of medical information safely. This essay will discuss how Rite Aid pharmacy informs customers of how his or her personal information is disclosed and how he or she is protected against violations of their rights, ensuring customers that his or her information will continue to remain to stay protected and that the HIPPA privacy laws are continued to be followed. As well as the law suit that arose where Rite Aid agreed to pay $1 million dollars...
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...review of the current Information Security Policy has been performed. The following recommendations on how users are provided access to the information systems used by Heart-Healthy Insurance and the password requirements for each system will ensure that the company’s policy is in compliance with all relevant federal regulations and industry standards. As an insurance company, Heart-Healthy Insurance works with and stores personal health information, financial information, and credit card information of clients and business partners. Data of this type is required to be protected by the United States Federal Government under several privacy acts. Heart-Healthy Insurance must also be Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliant due to the fact the company takes credit cards to pay for premiums and deductibles. Below is information on each privacy act and security standard that Heart-Healthy Insurance must be in compliance with. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) was developed “to encourage and enhance cardholder data security and facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures globally” (PCI Security Council, 2010 p. 5). PCI-DSS provides the following requirements for passwords and user access: -Each user must be assigned a unique ID for system access. -A user’s identity must be verified before passwords are reset. -Passwords for new users and reset passwords...
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...Article Review: HIPAA breaches: minimizing risks and patient fears Student Name HCS/335 March 13, 2013 Instructor Name Article Review: HIPAA breaches: minimizing risks and patient fears The article, “HIPPA breaches: minimizing risks and patient fears”, by Gabby Loria who is a Market Research Associate for Software Advice, is an industry view case study of concerns that patients have in relation to potential security risks related to health care. Patient privacy and medical document security are the main topics of this article. The article discusses the importance of provider confidentiality, proper handling of health information along with proposed solutions for potential security issues. There is a focus on the patients perception of what is considered to be protected. Loria points out that forty-five percent of patients are apprehensive about security gaps involved with their private health information (Loria, G., 2015). Protected Health Information: Patient Privacy Concern The potential breach in HIPPA, Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act of 1996, brings up several patient privacy concerns. One consideration is the method that the patient’s health data is distributed and utilized. Electronic health records are at risk of security breaches from hackers without adequate safety measure in place. According to Loria, (2015), “In January, health insurance provider Anthem discovered that hackers had broken into a database containing...
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...politicians rather than society as a whole (Austin & Boxerman, 2008). Discuss the impacts of breach to Healthcare Information systems, especially the financial and privacy impacts. Some of the most devastating security breaches can occur during employee termination when steps are not taken to remove access to resources in a timely manner. HIPAA guidelines specify that when employees are terminated, that certain steps, at a minimum, must be followed. These include changing locks, removal from access lists, removal of user account, and confiscation of keys, tokens and other access cards. Though these steps may seem to be common sense, some organizations may not have documented procedures to follow when an employee is terminated. Additionally, the responsibility for carrying out the termination procedures must be clearly assigned and documented (SANS Institute, 2001). Security Training In order for a security program to work well, the employees must be educated insecurity practices such as password protection, monitoring login failures and other basic practices. A well-educated workforce can become an extension of the security group of any organization through simple awareness. The HIPAA regulations require a Security Awareness training program that includes: awareness training for all personnel, security reminders to the workforce, virus...
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...University of Phoenix Material Accurate Registration Worksheet In 50 to 100 words, explain each step of the medical billing cycle, using Figure 6.7 of Integrated Electronic Health Records as a reference. Your explanations must be in your own words. Step Explanation 1 Pre-registration confirms the patient’s information and helps to identity the patient to ensure the patient safety. This is an important step especial for reoccurring patients... This step also helps with verifying a patients insurance. Pre-registration gives the office ample time to answer questions before they are asked by looking into the EHR. Pre-registration also allows you to see procedures that may require prior authorization (pre-cert). 2 Establish financial responsibility- Establishing financial responsibility is knowing who owes what for a certain doctor’s visits. Once the clinic gathers the pertinent information from the patient, then the biller can then determine which services are covered and allowed under the patient’s insurance plan. Insurance coverage can differ hugely between companies, individual, and plans, The biller needs to make sure each patient’s coverage in order to create the bill correctly. This also goes for prescriptions, some insurance companies do not allow for certain types or prefer generics. 3 Check in patients- Patient check-in and check-out are pretty much straight-at the desk task. When the comes in, First time patients will be asked to fill out paper forms or...
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...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 Many people wanted to make...
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...Abstract This paper will include creation of a business continuity plan for Red Circle that addresses any pre-incident changes the company can do to minimize and mitigate risk. The companies’ use and protection of sensitive data will be analyzed. The companies’ use and protection of member information will be analyzed. Discussion of the communication plan to be used during and following the disruption will be explained. Lastly steps on how the companies operations will be restored after the disruption will be discussed. Business Continuity Plan Red Circle is a non-for-profit health insurance company located in Minnesota. Red Circle serves members in commercial and government lines of business. The company has three office campuses located in Eagan, Minnesota. These locations are within 1 mile of each other. The company also has a location about 4 hours north of these locations, which houses customer service operations and claims processing employees. Pre-incident changes A well thought out and planned business continuity plan is a necessity to keep a business operational if a disaster should strike the company. Red Circle can be prepared for any disaster by having a business continuity plan in place with trained staff on how to implement the plan, if disaster or disruption occurs. Annually the business continuity plan should be reviewed for accuracy and updates. Since Red Circle is located in the Midwest region, which is prone to tornadoes, the company...
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...Data and E-mail Archiving 1 Data and E-mail Archiving: Legal Concerns Joel Zart Capella University TS5536-Ethics in Technology Data and E-mail Archiving 2 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………Page 3 Introduction to the world of Archiving……………………………………………………Page 4 Laws and penalties associated with archiving……………………………………………..Page 5 My ethical and legal dilemma……………………………………………………………...Page 6 Ethical dilemmas in archiving……………………………………………………………...Page 6 Process of identifying archiving liability…………………………………………………...Page 7 The solution based on law…………………………………………………………………..Page 8 The affects…………………………………………………………………………………..Page 9 The solution………………………………………………………………………………...Page 10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….Page 11 References………………………………………………………………………………….Page 12 Data and E-mail Archiving 3 Abstract The purpose of this is to analyze the importance of data and e-mail archiving within an enterprise organization. At my organization I am currently in the planning stages of having a fully fledged data and e-mail archiving solution in place by the end of 2009. Archiving data and e-mail within an enterprise is important for legal litigation. According to industry experts 90% of communication in business takes place through e-mail and electronic documentation such as instant messaging and word documents (2009 para.1). Companies are now required to archive all communication to not only protect the company but also their employees....
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...occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. What would be considered a serious injury would be a loss of limb, or its function and, or loss of life. These events are called sentinel events because they require immediate attention from JHACO. The goal of JHACO in this area is to reduce injuries such as inpatient suicide, initiate the wrong surgery, fatal falls and infant abduction just to name a few. JHACO has established national safety goals for all health care organizations: • Improve the accuracy of patient identification. • Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers. • Improve the safety of using high-alert medications. • Eliminate wrong-site, wrong-patient, and wrong-procedure surgery. • Improve the safety of using infusion pumps. • Improve the effectiveness of clinical alarm systems (Franko, 2002). Therefore, if the rules are not followed by the health care organizations then they are in jeopardy of losing their accreditation. These standards are in effect to maintain universal standards nationwide in the event that a health care professional would like to work in different locations. They would be aware of the JHACO rules and regulation. The standards that any health organization must follow are any direct care related to patient safety addressing such issues as medication use, infection control, surgery and anesthesia, transfusions, restraint and seclusion, staffing and staff competence, fire safety, medical...
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...The healthcare industry is considered a trillion-dollar industry, growing rapidly with technology and employing millions of healthcare workers in numerous fields. “On August 21, 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The primary goals of the act are to improve the portability and continuity of health-care coverage in group and individual markets; to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health-care insurance and health-care delivery;” (Ramutkowski & Pugh p.50) Being aware and familiar with the Health Insurance Portability Act not only benefits the patient but also protects the employee from falling into such a situation as this Nurse did. This paper will discuss the article’s issue and its effects, how the article uses current facts about healthcare and the issue addressed, the managerial responsibilities related to administrative ethical issues, and any proposed solutions. The article “Staff Nurse Faces Jail Time for HIPAA Violations” took place in 2008 years after the HIPAA law was enacted. “What had begun as routine file maintenance ended in arrest and possible jail time for a licensed practical nurse who shared medical information with her spouse.” (Latner p.1) Mrs. A had been employed at this physician’s office for over 4 years when the incident occurred. Her husband Mr. A was pending a lawsuit from a current auto accident which would put a strain on their family financially. Mrs. A (RN) decides to take measures...
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...CONSOLIDATED DOCTORS A COMPERHENSIVE NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE IT/COMPUTER NETWORK SYSTEMS PROGRAM IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ASSOCIATE DEGREE By: The Pin Heads: Bobbi Haynes Beau Driscoll Peter Hsu Advisor - Bill Pool and Tracy Martin ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE SPOKANE, WASHINGTON NOVEMBER, 2011 Table of Contents Scope Document and Project Charter 4 Purpose 4 Goals and Objectives 5 Success Criteria 5 Project Context 5 Project Deliverables 6 Scope Specifications 6 Out-of-Scope Specifications 6 Assumptions 7 Constraints 7 Risks 7 Stakeholders 7 Recommended Project Approach 7 Cost Matrix 8 Security/Maintenance Plan 9 Introduction and Background 9 Budget 10 Roles and Responsibilities 10 System Administrator 10 Help Desk IT 11 Office Manager 11 Financial manager 11 Supervisors 12 Receptionist 12 Performance Measures and Reporting 12 Printers 12 Phones 13 Work stations and laptops 13 Serves 13 Routers and Switches 13 Software 14 Card Access System 14 Governance and Management/Security Approach 14 Customer/Business Owner Management and security 14 Standard Operations and Business Practices 14 Security 14 Data Sharing 15 Data Storage 16 Tools used for change control management 16 Problem reporting 16 Risk identification 16 Disaster Recovery 16 Documentation Strategies 16 Training 16 Security 17 Roles and Responsibilities 17 Network...
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...Regulatory Agency Paper University of Phoenix HCS 430 October 22, 2012 This paper will better inform how the Joint Commission Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) came into existence. The JCAHO is responsible for the accreditation of healthcare organizations nationwide. JCAHO’s goal is to ensure that specific guidelines are meet and that the organizations operate in a safe manner for their patient’s and its employees. The Joint Commissioned Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) came along side of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) which established its program in the early 1900’s until 1952. This agency was responsible for on-site inspections of hospitals. Only a few hospitals meet the requirements of the minimum standard. The start up of JHAC was governed by Arthur W. Allen who sat on the chairman of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) (Saulf, 2005). In 1952 the ACS officially transfers its hospital Standard Program to JHAC this was the start of hospital’s accreditation. In 1953 JHAC publishes their standards for hospital accreditation. As time moves on congress passes the social security amendments in 1965 making this one of the hospital’s provision to be in compliance with the Medicare conditions for the hospital’s to participate in the program. In 1971 the accreditation for long term care is established. The social security act amended that the Secretary of the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) validate JHAC findings...
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