Andrea Smith, a LPN of Truman, Arkansas, pled guilty to wrongfully disclosing a patient’s health information for a personal gain. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine. Andrea, and her husband Justin Smith, were indicted on federal charges by violating the HIPPA in December of 2006. She was working at the Northeast Arkansas multispecialty clinic, in Jonesboro. Basically, Andrea Smith accessed a patient’s private medical information on November 28, 2006.…
Define the following 25 legal terms: 1.HIPAA Privacy Rule _Federal regulations created to implement the privacy requirements within the administrative simplification subtitle of HIPPA of 1996 and safeguard identifiable health information. ________________________ 2.HIPAA Security Rule _Federal regulations created to implement the security requirements within the administrative simplification subtitle of the HIPPA 1996 ________________________ 3.Medical malpractice __A type of action in which the plaintiff must demonstrate that a physician-patient, nurse-patient, therapist-patient, or other healthcare provider-patient relationship existed at the time of the alleged wrongful act.…
HIPAA was created in 1996 in order for Covered Entities (Health plan, health care clearing houses and health care provider) to protect and secure a person’s private health information (PHI). Its main focus is to eradicate worker discrimination due pre-existing conditions. Nonetheless, HIPAA concentrated on the implementation of a distributed electronic system to improve administrative transactions among covered entities. However, early stages of HIPAA provisions left many gaps opened. As an example: HIPPA did not specify how information should be protected; what methods, rules or standard needed to be enforced.…
1. What law is being violated by the employees at this health services organization? Both the privacy and security rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are being violated. 2.…
HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules benefit and support the integrity of the healthcare industry, patient, and physician by setting a standard on how the healthcare industry protects patient information when the files are stored and transferred electronically. This is the Security Rule. This rule sets technical and non-technical safeguards called “covered entities”. ("Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule | HHS.gov," n.d.) when the office stays within the standards and complies with the regulations then the integrity of maintaining privacy stays intact.…
On Thursday, July 20, 2017, at 10:50 p.m., we arrived near the Insured’s residence located at 1900 Abajo Drive, Monterey Park, CA 91754. As we arrived, we were met by a Caucasian female at the front door of the single-family home who then directed to the dining room area that was adjacent to the Kitchen area. She then offered her right hand to shake; her hand seemed weak as her hand seemed soft and supple, but exhibited an aggressive shake with her right hand. She then retrieved her driver’s license from the kitchen table, and she allowed to have a photo taken of her California Driver’s License, as she declined to have her photograph taken. She walked in a quick place inside her kitchen she was observed walking towards her the pantry area where she retrieved a can of coffee and proceeded make a pot of coffee.…
1) Describe some of the circumstances in which confidential health information can be disclosed without the patient's explicit consent Confidential health information can be disclosed under the following circumstances without the patient’s consent. Court orders and Subpoenas - when there is a court order made to have the health records available. The legal process to obtain health record information is through a subpoena. Statutory reports - Hospitals and medical personnel are required to report certain health information to public authorities.…
In the healthcare field medical malpractice lawsuits are expensive and detrimental to a health care provider’s career. EMRs can play a more active role in potential litigation because the documentation is organized, easy to read, and is more patient detailed than the paper records. The patient providers will be unfamiliar with this new EMR system and require some special training to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. HIPAA is the first comprehensive federal regulation that governs the privacy and confidentiality of patient-specific information. Maintaining those patients’ privacy and confidentiality during EMR implementation is a valid legal concern that needs to be addressed to the committee and hospital.…
To prevent a HIPAA violation when disposing of PHI, the healthcare facility must have a written policy documenting the proper procedure to follow when disposing PHI, and schedulers must be trained on HIPAA rules and regulations on an annual basis. Additionally, many offices keep separate containers for collecting and shredding PHI. In a recent settlement, Cornell Pharmacy in Denver, Colorado agreed to pay $125,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations after a local news reporter found patient information in an unsecured container (DHHS, 2015). According to the DHHS (2015), Cornell was cited for failing to safeguard PHI, failing to implement written policies and procedures, and failing to train the workforce on the Privacy Rule.…
Healthcare is an important organization that is a private sector which is an essential part to preventing one’s personal files from social access of being exposed. In the recent 2000’s, the HIPAA law has been developed and created in order to prevent legally any health organizations from leaking or giving out any information to persons or individuals without a patient’s consent. All healthcare organizations are legally obligated to have all patients to fill out a HIPAA form and store it in their charts. One can prove that their information was violated based on if their spouse or employer was given information regarding their records without consent. A formal consent or document should be filled out stated that their spouse or employer is not…
The biggest risk management issue that is occurring in this situation is violating the HIPAA law. The person on the cell phone is relying information verbatim as the doctor is explaining to the patient. The doctor should ask the patient if it is okay for the other individual to be in the room, and if it is okay if they discuss his information with someone else. Moreover, I would also ask the person to get off the phone because the attention is being divided and with a leg laceration the patient needs full attention. In my opinion, cell phones do impact the healthcare setting in a negative way.…
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability laws protect personally identifiable health information such as a person’s social secutrty number, birthday, address, etc. It also protects a person’s current, past, or even future physical and or metal conditions or treatment. In 1996 congress passed the HIPAA law, but did not pass a federal medical privacy statute, so the Department of Health and Human Services was required to develop regulation that specified patients’ rights to health privacy. In 2001 President George W. Bush implemented the Human Services Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act “Privacy Rule” which recognized the “right of consent”.…
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, also known as the HITECH Act was signed into law on February 17, 2009. It was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as ARRA. This Act was passed to encourage the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HHS, par 1) and to add changes to HIPAAs original provisions. The HITECH Act significantly modifies the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA.…
HIPAA is a very important act, these rules protect you, your physician, nurse, practice, family, bosses, etc. The privacy of your personal information is very important and anyone who reviles any of your information without your approval they will have committed a violation and there will be penalties for them to face. “Health information means any information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium that is received by any healthcare provider, school, employer. Any past, present or future medical issues with a person.” (9)…
HIPAA Security and Privacy: Cases and Scenarios Brittany Stewart Herzing University Dr. Gary J. Hanney Abstract HIPAA security and privacy is an important aspect of healthcare delivery. Government influences greatly how legal issues are addressed in healthcare, including non-governmental entities. This essay will explain how the HIPAA privacy rule should be applied appropriately with protected health information.…