HIPPA Violations



Outline

Introduction

This section introduces the HIPPA and its emergence into the healthcare.

HIPPA Confidentiality and Compliance

This section explains the HIPPA rules in detail. This section also discusses the rules and standard sets in detail and uniform codes as well. This explains what HIPPA is all about.

HIPPA Violations in Retail Pharmacy Setting

This section explains all the violations under HIPPA made in the pharmacy settings and healthcare. It also discusses the ramifications of improper disclosure.

Conclusion

This section concludes the paper and ends with the final notes.

HIPPA in a Retail Pharmacy setting

Introduction

HIPPA refers to a federal statute, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, passed by Congress in 1996. Prior to the enactment of HIPPA and its Privacy Rule, confidentiality of health care information was protected by a patchwork of state statutes; the common law right to privacy, enforced by tort actions for invasion of privacy; and the ethical requirements of confidentiality assumed by all health care professionals, violations of which could lead to discipline imposed by state licensing boards. However, there were numerous and recurring reports of confidentiality breaches (Aiken, 2002).

HIPPA confidentiality and compliance

The principal goal of HIPPA was, to allow portability of health insurance. It aims to permit employees to take their health coverage with them when they change employers. The law contained several other provisions related to health care, however, the most notable being one related to privacy of health information (Aiken, 2002).

During the development of the HIPPA legislation, congressional hearings were held, and extensive comment was received by Congress on the subject of privacy of patient care information. In the hearings, individuals testified about problems they had experienced when information about their health status or medical treatment was shared without their authorization. Concern was focused on electronic transmission of health information and the use of fax, cellular telephones, e-mail, Internet communications, and database management (Brown, 2006).

HIPPA Rules

HIPPA authorized the Department of Human Services to enact, though its rule-making authority, detailed standards and requirements to protect the privacy. The Privacy Rule went into effect on April 14, 2003. This rule created a minimum national threshold for privacy standards aimed at protecting information and avoiding unacceptable dissemination of protected health information. The Privacy Rule applies to three types of entities—health care providers, health plan (insurers), and health care clearinghouses (such as billing services) if they meet the following criterion: They must transmit protecting health information in electronic form. Health care provider is defined in one section of the rule by place of service, such as a hospital, skilled care facility, outpatient clinic, home health agency, or hospice. In another section of the rule, health care provider is defined by the nature of the provider. Under the Privacy Rule, health care providers have a number of responsibilities to perform and document. If the requirements are violated, the health care provider can be subject to civil and criminal penalties (Armstrong, 2005).

Security Rules, Uniform Code Sets, and Transaction Standards

The implementation of the Security Rules and the uniform code sets and transaction standards, while complicated and ...