The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals' medical records and other personal health information and applies to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically.
At the Akron General Medical Center employees were fired recently for violating hospital and federal privacy rules involving the fatal shooting of a patient in the intensive-care unit. John H. Wise was 66and was accused of shooting and killing his wife. Jim Gosky confirmed that a small number of hospital employees were terminated for accessing computerized patient records in the case even though they weren’t involved with the patient’s care. Gosky declined to say how many workers lost their jobs so far in the ongoing investigation. He also would not specify their positions. I think is terrible when any employee loses his or her job, patients come first. Part of that commitment is respecting and safeguarding the privacy of our patients. Privacy laws, like HIPAA, are very important to protecting our patients’ rights, and we are supportive of reasonable measures aimed at protecting our patient. I was informed during my orientation, when I first started working for my employer. Seminars and annual training that federal privacy rules prohibit them from looking at patient files unless the information is needed to do their job. All violations result in termination. I mean is part of a human nature and we all understand that, but it still doesn’t justify the fact that the policies were