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Running head HIPAA COMPLIANCE: 1

HIPAA Compliance

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HIPAA COMPLIANCE: 2

Introduction

HIPAA, original name as Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill, is a established of principles that became

law in 1996. Its main aim is to assist people carry health insurance from one company to the

other and rationalize the program of medical registers from one health care institution to the next.

Moreover, HIPAA formed a system to enforce and recognize the rights of patients to secure the

secrecy of the medical files. It is a sequence of regulations that have essential health care

administrations to invest money and time into preparation for strict compliance. It can be

arduous and lengthy energy for those in the healthcare production, for patients it creates sense of

security.

HIPAA Compliance

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a body based in the

United States of America that is responsible for safeguarding and protecting the medical

information of clients. The organization started on the 21st of August in the year 1996. It was

made into law to assist working class people who moved from job to job secure their medical

insurance cover with ease.

Apart from its primary purpose of providing insurance cover for people who shift jobs,

HIPAA also has other functions that it performs and they include the following; It acts as a

confidant on behalf of the client by safeguarding the patient's health information that a customer

needs to be confidential (Gostin L, 2009) . This ensures that nobody has any knowledge

whatsoever about a patient's medical history. It also assists in reducing the costs of accessing

HIPAA COMPLIANCE: 3

healthcare by facilitating medical, financial transactions to be done through electronic

transmission as opposed to the tedious and time consuming manual work with paper.

HIPAA also provides a platform on which a client can forward their grievances and

complaints to the appropriate authorities to receive better services in the future (Gostin L, 2009) .

Several concepts of security and privacy guide the regulation of health information. They are;

Boundaries- A ‘line' should be drawn and not be overstepped to ensure that the personal medical

records of a patient are used only for medical purposes which include delivering appropriate care

to the patient and also for the payment of healthcare services, which guarantees health insurers

access to such information. Other than that, the health records of patients should remain

confidential.

Security- Those responsible for safe keeping of the health records of clients should do everything

within their power to ensure that the files are only accessible for follow up of the patients' health

or any other medical reason that genuinely warrants access to them (Greene, A. H., 2012).

Consumer control- The client has the utmost control of his/her medical records. They

have the right to know and authorize those who have access to their medical records and what

contains in them (Greene, A. H., 2012). They also hold the right to change their health records if

they detect a problem, especially if it comes to their knowledge that some of the information

documented in their records is wrong or is currently irrelevant.

Accountability- If the people responsible for handling the health records of patients, such

as doctors and health insurers misuse their power and use a patient's information for the wrong

purpose, they should be held accountable for their actions. They should get punishment by the

laws of the legislation.

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Public responsibility- Some instances require that medical records be known for the sake

of the public's safety (Gostin L, 2009) . For example, patients suffering from highly contagious

illnesses such as cholera and tuberculosis should get advice on how to handle themselves to

minimize their chances of spreading the disease to others. For such follow-up to be done, the

medical records of such patients need to be accessible.

When it comes to complying with the HIPAA guidelines, there are both physical and

technical safeguards that must be put in place to ensure the maximum security and privacy of

clients' health records. Physical safeguards focus primarily on the physical access to medical

records under protection, and technical safeguards concentrate on the safety of the customer's

data while administrative safeguards focus on the policies and procedures of the legislation

(Greene, A. H., 2012).

Physical safeguards divide into three standards which are;Facility access control- Only

personnel authorized by the appropriate bodies should have access to the facilities where the

health records stored for safe keeping. This particular safeguard has four implementation

specifications which are; Contingency Operations, which makes sure that, in case of an

emergency, there are authorized people to gain access to the patient's medical records. Facility

security plan, which ensures that the facility in which the protected medical records kept is safe

and secure from unauthorized access, tampering, and theft. This can be done through, always

locking the facility or hiring security to watch over the facility (Gostin L, 2009) . Access control

and validation procedures ensure that only the authorized personnel have access to the medical

records and that they only access the records solely for medical purposes and also according to

their role in the organization.

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Workstation use is yet another physical safeguard used in ensuring safe keeping of

protected records. According to the health department, a workstation is any electronic device that

can be used to gain access to the medical records (Gostin L, 2009) . The purpose of the

workstations should be defined, be it for few purposes such as checking patients' conditions or

whether it has many functions, and if access to protected records is one of them.

Workstation security is the other physical safeguard, but unlike workstation use, it

focuses on how the workstations are physically protected from users who are not authorized. The

final protection is device and media controls. This is concerned with the removal of workstation

devices from the facility, and also within the same facility (Greene, A. H., 2012).

The technical safeguards are the measures taken to ensure that the protected medical

records stored in electronic devices are safe from unauthorized personnel. Access and audit

control- Done through check control where facilities responsible for safe keeping of the

protected health records implement hardware and software procedural mechanisms that monitor

the activity of the information systems.

Authentication and integrity-This policy are meant to ensure that the health records stored

in electronic devices are not altered or destroyed in any way. Such controls can be made by

knowing how outside interference can mess with the integrity and authenticity of the information

(Greene, A. H., 2012).

Failure to comply with the HIPAA regulations leads to unwanted fines and penalties. The

penalties largely depend on the level of negligence and are usually between $100 to $50000 per

violation. The maximum penalty can even go all the way up to $1.5million. The more the neglect

of the regulations, the higher the amount of fine paid. The HIPAA violations and penalties are

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divided into civil and criminal. Different violations have varying quantities of goods. For

example, if the HIPAA violation is due to a reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, the

fine is usually $1,000-$50,000. If the violation is due to neglect but is corrected within the right

amount of time, the penalty is usually $10,000-$50,000. When the violation is due to neglect and

is not corrected at all, the penalty is not less than $50,000 (Gostin L, 2009) .

The criminal penalties include; If the violation is done unknowingly, or due to reasonable

cause, the penalty is one year in prison. In instances where the violation is due to pretense, the

fine is up to five years in jail, and if it is done knowingly for personal gain of for wrong,

malicious reasons, the fine is up to ten years in prison.

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Reference list

Greene, A. H. (2012). HIPAA compliance for clinician texting. Journal of AHIMA, 83(4), 34-36.

Gostin, L. O., Levit, L. A., & Nass, S. J. (Eds.). (2009). Beyond the HIPAA privacy rule:

enhancing privacy, improving health through research. National Academies Press.

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