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| Overview Of The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA) |
By:
Malcolm Brown |
|
Copyright 2006
Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996. The purpose of this law is
to protect private individual health information from being
disclosed to anyone without the consent of the individual.
Except under unusual circumstances, the consent needs to be in
writing.
However, there are some exceptions to the consent provision.
The consent provision does not apply in the following
situations:
- Treatment
- Billing
- Quality assurance
- Peer review
- Business planning activities
- Staff training
- Required reporting to public health agencies
- Certain emergency situations
- Research studies that have obtained a wavier from the
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Research
Private health information can be used in research studies if
it is "de-individualized" so that the identity of the
individual cannot be ascertained from the information
disclosed. For example, if you were conducting a study of the
lung problems suffered by New Yorkers after the 911 terrorist
attacks, it would be permissible to identify a patient as, a 50
year old, 5'11', 175 lb., while male from New York City with
high blood pressure.
Marketing
Health care providers are prohibited from selling or using
their patient or enrollees lists to market products from a
third party. However, they can use their list to communicate
with or sell their own services to their list members. Great
care must be taken to restrict access when using online
collaboration, such as an intranet (http://www.trichys.com).
Business Associates
All business associates, vendors or other contractors that use
the health care provider's facility must sign a contract
stating that they understand and agree to be bound by HIPAA
regulations. The health care provider can be held responsible
for the actions of the business associate if they did not sign
a contract or there was a history of abuse and the health care
provider did noting about it.
Individual Rights
Under HIPAA, individuals have the right to:
- Notice of the health provider's privacy practices
- Request restrictions on who is allowed to access their health
information
- Access, inspect or copy their personal health information
- Request an accounting of all disclosures of their health
information
- Request corrections or amendments to their health information
Health Care Providers Responsibilities
Health care providers are required to:
- Provide security for both paper and electronic individual
health information
- Institute a complaint process to investigate complaints
- Train staff on the law
The HIPAA regulations allow for both civil monetary and
criminal penalties for violations of the act.
About The Author: Malcolm Brown is Vice President of Trichys,
providers of intranets and extranet solutions for health care
and HIPAA compliance
http://www.trichys.com/home/industry-solutions/hipaa.vm. |
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