Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Compliance
By
Christopher Knight
SEC 440
16 Oct 2014
TO: Company Chief Security Officer
FROM: Security Engineer
DATE: 16 Oct 14
SUBJECT: HIPAA Security Compliance for Alba, IA Hospital
Any patient that is seen by a physician within the United States is to be protected by the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” or HIPAA, which was passed into law in 1996 (Jani, 2009). All health care facilities dealing with any protected health information (PHI) are to ensure that all physical/electronic processes are safeguarded from any third party entity or unauthorized personnel according to HIPAA. All health care data to include any medical insurance
…show more content…
The hospital accounting department will also be off limits except only for those personnel that are authorized. Extra vigilance must be place on all medical record rooms, since the hospital still has paper medical records. All medical staff will receive training so that they understand the importance of HIPAA. This policy will guarantee that we have controls in place in regards to accessing patient information and staff access is monitored.
Other physical safeguards that will also be in place include visitor sign-in, proper destruction of electronic media that may contain PHI and 100% shred policy on all paperwork. All contractors that might be working at the hospital will only have access to the part of the facility where their work will be conducted and will escorted at all times while performing their duties.
Technical Measures
With the introduction of information technology advancement into the hospital health care system, we must embrace in this technology and must ensure that we have a more efficient and secure system. This will allow us to create measures that will allow us to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI). All data that is being transmitted on any open networks will be protected from any cyber attackers or unauthorized personnel. In order to protect this data, any ePHI data will be sent by encrypting the data to ensure that in the event that it is intercepted it
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by congress in 1996, and helps to ensure the privacy and security of Electronic Health Records (EHR's). By following the rules and regulations set forth under HIPAA, we can ensure the safety of patients' EHR's. We are responsible for protecting patients' records, and there are many measures we can take in order do this. Firstly, we must always keep patients' health information private. This means no discussing the records with people that are not authorized to know, and even then, we should only disclose the minimum necessary amount of information possible. For covered entities, we must designate a privacy and security officer to ensure the privacy
Data Protection Act: Patient information has to be kept private. Health care professionals and their affiltes must not allow unauthorised access to sensitive patient information. The Health information portability and accountability act of 1996, also known as HIPAA, contains a clause designed to protect patient privacy. The rules ensure that health care professionals take prudent steps to protect the confidentiality of communications with individual patients. Patients can also request that health care professionals correct may inaccurate person health information in their records.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created to protect the personal and medical information of a patient obtaining medical treatment. HIPAA came into effect in 1996 and it was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, after approval by congress. The HIPAA covers personal information such as name, date of birth, address, etc. Results of tests, diagnosis and treatments for ailments are also covered under HIPAA. A persons protected health information can be divulged if express permission is given by the person that the protected information pertains to. There are exceptions for permission to divulge information which can include an investigation of a crime, suspected cases of child abuse or other law enforcement purposes as required by law. Protected health information (PHI) can be disclosed in aiding treatment or payment for a service. Title II of the health insurance portability and accountability (HIPAA) establishes the rules of compliance for electronic processing of transmissions, disclosure of PHI ( Protected Health Information), or the
The government has also ensured compliance with HIPAA by implementing the HIPAA audit. The focus on specific controls such topics as policies and procedures to ensure privacy, confidentiality of the PHI of patients and evaluation of the action plans of the violation of security. Other security measures, including background checks of employees, all internal restrictions on the availability of private information and physical security measures to determine if they comply with the guidelines established by the HIPAA
HIPAA, (Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996) outlines rules and regulations and the rights of patients to access their healthcare information such as notifications of privacy practices, copying and viewing medical records, and amendments. This paper explains why confidentiality is important today and discusses recourses patients can use if they believe their privacy has been violated. This paper will also discuss criminal and civil penalties’ that can occur for breaking HIPAA privacy rules.
Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the protection of patient’s private health information. It’s very pertinent to the patients that their personal information is being kept privately away from unauthorized viewers. Patients are allowed to have access to their own health records if they request them. Workers that has access to protected health information are required by law to secure all information in a file and not share with anyone any information that is not relevant to them. You should always know whom to disclosed the proper protected health information to when necessary. There are safeguards that can help with ensuring the security and protection of the protected health information, while the information is being transmitted or stored in its proper place.
Numerous steps have been taken to maintain HIPAA compliance in the HIM Department. The facility utilizes Cerner electronic health record. This vendor is HIPAA compliant with security measures built into the software. Additionally there are other technical and physical security measures in place. No individual that is not an employee can enter the HIM Department. All employees have access cards to access areas they are employed in. Additionally, all employees have to log on to their workstation with their access cards and unique passwords.
A have created and attached a flow sheet illustrating the HIPAA coverage, reminding us that each night, any and all documents which contain patient PHI (Name, date of birth, med recs, etc) MUST be locked up at your workstation. No documents containing PHI may remain unsecured.
Welcome to Marshall Hospital! As a new employee in the Health Information Management Department one of your responsibilities is to manage off-site storage of medical records. Understanding the federal and state regulations regarding off-site storage of medical records is a very important part of this responsibility. Off-site storage (also known as remote storage), is “a location separate from the facility” (Bowie & Green, 2011, p.103). To be in compliance with the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus rule, we are required to have our vendors attest to proper storage of protected health information by signing this agreement (Bowie & Green, 2011, p.103). We require that you read the Marshall Hospital Business Associate Agreement (BAA) that we have in place with
The Compliance and Privacy Department is a complex unit whose job functions and duties crosses every department in the hospital, from clinical to housekeeping, to administration to finance, and to patient access to information technology, just to name a few. We are required to look at each discipline’s EPIC modules and audit trail viewers to make incident determinations, chart access appropriateness or inappropriateness, and employee disciplinary and termination recommendations to managers, regional medical directors, medical directors, hospital and nursing executive staff members, and human resources professionals.
One of the most critical, but often overlooked aspects of securing this data is the physical security of the hardware and equipment which stores the data. Data security concerns are paramount in a hospital setting as much of the information is private and protected by federal privacy protection laws written for the sole purpose of protecting client or patient rights to the protection of the information regarding their health, treatment, and medications.
The data that passes through these systems is also important as it is often the ultimate target of attackers. Data may include personal information on staff, tenants, and patients; financial information; operational statistics; engineering drawings; procedures; and a variety of other documents. As part of the assessment of impacted systems, the sensitivity and confidentiality of the data stored and transmitted on those systems must be considered. Ideally this information should be collected as a part of an healthcare organization’s IT master plan, which will often include
The facility is required to adopt reasonable and appropriate policies and procedures to comply with the set security rules. The new stronger policies and procedures are critical in preventing, detecting, containing and correcting of the security violations. These current policies will also help in performing security risk analysis that will assist in identifying, analyzing risks, and hence leading to the implementation of security measures to reduce the identified risks. All health care professionals, nurses included should contribute to the development and implementation of legislation, policies, and standards that keep patient’s privacy and the confidentiality of patient health information (American Nurses Association, 2015).
HIPAA was created to fight against waste, fraud and abuse in health care deliverance and health insurance policies, improve the ability of health insurance being portable, and to simplify the administration of health insurance. HIPAA mandates a set of patient rights to help protect the patient from breaches in confidentiality. Some of these rights include the right to access a copy of medical records, the right to receive a notice of privacy practices, and the right to request an amendment of a medical record. There is also safeguards for the security of all these documents. There are detailed requirements about the rules for physical, technical and administrative security in the HIPAA Security Rule. There must be a number of security measures in place to ensure the safety of these documents. In each practice, there must be a HIPAA compliance officer who is making sure these mandates are met by everyone who works there. They take a special course in compliancy and are responsible for handling anyone that breaks the HIPAA laws. Although there is only one HIPAA compliance officer, each person who works in the practice must take training courses on how to comply with HIPAA’s standards. Most training is ongoing as things get updated or the need for re-teaching is apparent. If a patient notices a breach in HIPAA, they are able to file a complaint about the incident and the Office of Civil Rights will investigate the case and see if the Privacy Rule was
HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, sets the standard for ensuring sensitive patient information. Any organization that arrangements with secured wellbeing data (PHI) must guarantee that all the required physical, system, and process safety efforts are set up and took after.