The Health Portability and Accountability Act Dissertation Example

Free The Health Portability and Accountability Act Dissertation Example

HIPAA/Confidentiality Name Institution HIPAA/Confidentiality The Health Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a decree that assists in the protection of the privacy of patients on matters regarding their health and/or medical information (Kaufmann, 2009). HIPAA was sanctioned by Congress in 1996 to enhance health-care accessibility for Americans. Protected Health Information (PHI) can be described as individually identifiable health data which includes but is not limited to any patient information that is associated with their previous, current and future mental or physical condition or health, home address, emergency contacts, age, and any other health linked care services (Ornstein, 2016). In the HIPAA Privacy Rule, patients have the right to easily access their protected health information if they want to. The patient’s health information is usually housed in the individual’s “designated record set”. This contains the patient’s enrollment, billing and medical records, claims, payments, or any other records used by practitioners in making decisions regarding the patient’s health. A patient has the right to request and review this information to verify the accuracy or update their own records. A breach of information implies that confidential, sensitive and or else protected information has been disclosed or accessed in an unauthorized way. One of the major limitations of HIPAA is its electronic format. Its maintenance costs are high due to huge spending on the electronic system protection cost. Additionally, it is prone to online attacks thus the data has to be constantly updated to avoid stealing, corruption and unauthorized access (Ley, 2014). Informed consent is described as the procedure in which a sick individual gain knowledge of and comprehends the benefits, intention and possible threats of a surgical or medical involvement, as well as clinical experiments and then consents to be given the medication or take part in the trials...