4 Basic Points About HIPAA You Need to Know

After the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was adopted, a lot of things changed for the health industry. The act came into being not only to take care of medical records but also to change the way employees share information about patients. Changes took place in the basic functioning of the health industry. It's been over a decade that the act came into place, and healthcare units had to make a lot of changes to comply with HIPAA. Now they bear fruit, in terms of its effectiveness.

HIPAA basically makes a hospital or a medical unit signs a form by their clients stating which groups or people their medical details can be shared with. This ensures confidentiality and eradicates the risk of information being leaked out. Even within the organization, certain employees cannot access their client's Personal Health Information (PHI).

There are a number of regulations that patients should know about. HIPAA has been created for them:

• As a patient, you need to know who will abide by HIPAA's rules and regulations. Doctors, nurses and healthcare providers, all of them need to be knowledgeable about the Act. Health insurance companies may not share any part of your Protected Health Information (PHI).

• If ever you fall ill, and a number of people need to go through your medical records, you can request that only your doctor be given this privilege. But sometimes a doctor could refuse this request in case nurses or health insurance agents need to access your records for taking care of you better.

• There are regulations even to access your own records. You can have full access to your records, unless your doctor specifies otherwise. There could be some information that could do more harm than heal if reviewed. In case there is a mistake in your records, you are given a specific number of days within which you are allowed to make changes. You also need to explicitly mention where you would not like your details to be shred, such as sales calls or even to certain kind of health agents.

• At your workplace the regulations regarding HIPAA are quite different. An employer is external to HIPAA rules, he may ask for a note from your doctor for various reasons. He is also not bound to keep any medical records private. He can share them with an external company if he needs to. On the other hand, health insurance companies cannot share your records with your employer without your consent.

These are only a few instances of the benefits of HIPAA. A certified employee at a medical unit or a hospital can guide you completely if you are a patient. You need to understand the Act as it has been designed to help you, a responsible citizen of the nation. Speak to your doctor, as he will have complete access to these records. He will be able to guide you and your family, as and when the need arises. It is important to stay knowledgeable about such Acts.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA training website.

View the original article here

American National Insurance - 10:21 PM

Read More

4 Points on Balancing HIPAA Privacy Rules With Requirements of Research

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and its Privacy Rules have laid a considerable amount of stress for protecting the personal information of an individual. Over the years it has made its guidelines more stringent and also prescribed civil as well as criminal penalties on the covered entities that violate its rules. But even HIPAA cannot take a one-sided view when it comes to the field of research which may be in conflict with several of the privacy provisions but is still required for many constructive purposes.

The following points look at research from different perspectives with seemingly opposing provisions of HIPAA Privacy Rules.

1. Importance of Research: Carrying on research on a continual basis is vital in any field but more so in healthcare because it involves precious human lives. While the need for having strict laws to protect sensitive data cannot be compromised the fact remains that research is just as important. It is only through steady research that dangerous diseases can be detected at early stages and effective medicines can be found for those diseases that at present do not have a cure. Thus you must understand that an unhindered research environment is required as much as the laws.

2. Researchers Concern: HIPAA Privacy Rules has laid down stringent guidelines for covered entities with respect to how personal health information can be used. Researchers already have to follow certain Common Rules when carrying on their research work and have questioned the need for additional riders placed by HIPAA. Furthermore researchers have requested suitable changes to be made in the Privacy Rules to put disclosure for research on par with authorized purposes like payment and treatment so that no other permissions are required to be sought by the researchers seeking such data.

3. Public View: Public concerns over the misuse of their personal data are one of the primary reasons for strengthening of the HIPAA Privacy Rules. In the studies conducted to gauge public opinion it was found that most people understood the importance of research in the healthcare field, but were equally concerned about disclosure of certain sensitive information and wanted to be properly consulted prior to disclosing personal data.

4. Releasing Data: Just like the public HIPAA too realizes the importance of research work in this field and have thus made certain provisions under which data can be released for research purposes.

• De-identifying Data: HIPAA Privacy Rules do allow covered entities to disclose information for research after removing certain identifying data of the individual. This includes name, address, contact information and social security number among others. Furthermore it requires the researchers to sign an agreement for proper use of this data.

• Authorization Wavier: In certain cases where the information is crucial to the research work and the perceived risks are low, bodies like the Institutional Review Board (IRB) may waive the authorization requirement for disclosing the data.

In addition to the above information can be disclosed for research work if the individual provides a written authorization for the same, however such permission must be granted only after careful consideration.

For more information, please visit our hipaa privacy website.

View the original article here

American National Insurance - 8:11 AM

Read More