HIPAA Case Study

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How do people use, misuse or abuse HIPAA, the federal regulations protecting patients’ confidential health information? For instance, an elderly woman who didn’t show up to her regular swim and wasn’t in her apartment, when questions directed toward hospital staffs about any information were denied due to HIPAA policies. Another situation was when a daughter tried to call a hospital to warn them about medication allergies concerning her mother because her memory was impaired. The hospital refused to take the information citing HIPAA. A nurse finally listened hours after her mother had already been prescribed a drug she was allergic to but was fortunate because it wasn’t distributed.

Both scenarios involve a misconception of the privacy rules

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