How HIPPAA Violations Affect the Medical Billing Process, Part Two
Amber Padgett
HCR/220
October 19, 2014
Felecia Pettit-Wallace

The purpose of this paper is to relate to ways that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations may affect the medical billing process. While researching, the findings conclude that confidentiality of health information was adopted centuries ago. The findings of the research show that although, HIPAA laws have been put into place to protect the privacy and confidential heath information of patients; HIPAA laws are sometimes violated. The medical billing coders are sometimes careless when handling confidential information; however medical health records should be protected adequately. The coder that violates the HIPAA laws concerning the confidentiality and privacy of patient health information can suffer serious ramifications. The ramifications of these violations could result in serious penalties such as disciplinary actions by the employer, monetary fines, and jail time, or both. HIPAA violations ranks number one among the complaints received by the Office of Civil Rights each year. Humans take pleasure in the right to privacy in every aspect of life. The right of protecting the confidentiality and privacy of identifiable personal health information takes first priority and is greatly cherished among most. The Hippocratic Oath, dating back centuries required physicians to keep medical information concerning their patients a secret. However, in today’s society medical health information is maintained by more than the physician and patient. Personal health information is retained in paper records as well as computer database of health care practices, hospitals, diagnostic services, laboratories that perform tests and provide medical care. Insurance companies to which medical insurance claims are