HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA Compliance

Thesis Statement

“The greatest challenge that faces rural America is that of access to health care providers and they need telehealth providers as well”.

Introduction

It is estimated that about 160 million Americans use of health care is through employer. However, it is already at this point to note that employers are not obliged to insure their employees, there are no regulations concerning the scope of this insurance, meaning that it is common to buying additional service packages on their own.

High rates of poverty and loss of employment due to the present economic downfall reflect the disputes of health care service access and the increasingly high cost of it in rural places. The rates of poverty are more with fifteen percent of individuals leading the life below the poverty line in rural places, compared with twelve percent of population in urban areas (Young, 2012).

Small businesses dominate the rural society, who continues to struggle while the healthcare cost increases continuously. In the middle of the present economic downfall, the economy of rural areas is facing the loss of jobs more quickly as compared to the other states of the country, and this loss can result in loss of coverage. Specially, rural areas which are dependent on the factories have lost around 5% of its jobs since the economic downfall started, and these jobs offer excellent benefits (Valaitis, et al., 2012).

Discussion

Limited Healthcare Coverage and Heavy Costs

Many residents of rural areas work part time, seasonal or independently, and therefore they are less prone to have an access of private healthcare benefits that are provided by the employer. A survey of operators on farms and ranches in several states showed that while 90% of farmers are insured for their health, third buy straight away via insurance, in comparison with the 8% of the national average (Siau & Shen, 2006).

Almost 20% of people who do not have insurance coverage, 8.5 million people are the residents of rural places. This issue is worst for minority people of rural areas, the poor people of rural areas and those who do not have secondary education certificates (Valaitis, et al., 2012).

Residents of rural areas spend more out of pocket on health care than residents of the city. In fact, 20% of rural residents spend above $ 1,000 in cash in one year, and residents of rural areas pay 40% of income as costs of health care out of his pocket as compared with the residents of urban areas who pays 33% of the income (Valaitis, et al., 2012).

The farmers are hit harder by the high costs of healthcare services. In a research carried out in many states, 20 % farmers who were insured had a debt for medical services, and in a state, farmers purchased a single health plan he paid $ 2.117 on average which is more than their fellows (Schneider, 2011).

As a result, rural adults are more likely than adults to the city to delay care because of cost 15% versus 13%. This problem is worse among rural ...