Hippa Regulatory Paper
HIPPA 1996
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Erica Chapman
HCA-210
7/15/2012
Sherika Derico
HIPPA (1996)
There are laws that protect all of our patient information from being exposed to others, one law in particular is HIPPA law of 1996 (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). This law protects the privacy and security of all health information, whether it is on paper or electronically. HIPPA has two goals to make health insurance more portable for people when changing jobs and making our health care system more accountable for the costs and reduce waste and fraud.
This was and is enacted by the federal law but is also used in state laws as well, and is used in all health care environments. It is crucially important that all employees abide by the rules and regulations; otherwise you could face serious consequences such as fines and imprisonment. It is important to know your surrounds before discussing anyone’s personal health information with them or an authorized person. “HIPAA's privacy provisions apply to protected health information in "any form or medium." That means everything containing PHI: paper records as well as electronic ones, faxes, emails, exchanges in telephone conversations, and even just talking face-to-face” (UMMSM). Some important key facts to remember about this law are that it is your job to keep everything private and confidential, know who you can and cannot talk to about patient information, and also know the steps you have to take when transmitting patient information to a doctor or another department within the facility.
“The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”(ARRA) that was signed into law on February 17, 2009, established a tiered civil penalty structure for HIPAA violations” (AMA). This act was established to have a minimum penalty and a maximum penalty, depending on how many times it was violated, how many offenses the employee has against them, and in some instances if the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Erica Chapman
HCA-210
7/15/2012
Sherika Derico
HIPPA (1996)
There are laws that protect all of our patient information from being exposed to others, one law in particular is HIPPA law of 1996 (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). This law protects the privacy and security of all health information, whether it is on paper or electronically. HIPPA has two goals to make health insurance more portable for people when changing jobs and making our health care system more accountable for the costs and reduce waste and fraud.
This was and is enacted by the federal law but is also used in state laws as well, and is used in all health care environments. It is crucially important that all employees abide by the rules and regulations; otherwise you could face serious consequences such as fines and imprisonment. It is important to know your surrounds before discussing anyone’s personal health information with them or an authorized person. “HIPAA's privacy provisions apply to protected health information in "any form or medium." That means everything containing PHI: paper records as well as electronic ones, faxes, emails, exchanges in telephone conversations, and even just talking face-to-face” (UMMSM). Some important key facts to remember about this law are that it is your job to keep everything private and confidential, know who you can and cannot talk to about patient information, and also know the steps you have to take when transmitting patient information to a doctor or another department within the facility.
“The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”(ARRA) that was signed into law on February 17, 2009, established a tiered civil penalty structure for HIPAA violations” (AMA). This act was established to have a minimum penalty and a maximum penalty, depending on how many times it was violated, how many offenses the employee has against them, and in some instances if the