Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Essay

Today we get out be discussing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA. As approximately or most of you may go to sleep HIPAA was enacted by the federal regime in 1996 and by definition is a federal law that mandates indemnification portability and sets up procedures for electronic data exchange (Austin & Wetle, 2012). This laws suggest is to encourage patients privacy, none of a Patients Health schooling (PHI) is to be used or released without the patients consent. HIPAA is superior to every(prenominal)ege laws, so that no matter where the patient lives they atomic number 18 protected.The only while HIPAA is not superior to sound out law is if the state law has a higher standard, as in keeping an account of disclosures for eight eld rather than the six required by HIPAA law we would follow the state law in this case. Key factors that all health sympathize with employees should know about HIPAA are as follows. Who is covered by HIPPA? Health care providers, clearinghouses, and health plans that are compelled to protect PHI for oral, paper, and electronic communications (Harman, 2005) are all covered by HIPAA.Another key factor about HIPAA is, lettered what information is protected and what is ok to be discover. PHI is not to be disclosed unless the patient gives their consent, anything with personal identifiers is off limits, demographic data, past, present and future health conditions, provisions of care and past, present, or future payment information (U. S. division of Health & Human Services, n. d. ) are all protected. Information that can be disclosed is called de-identified health information, information without any identifying factors.The only required PHI disclosures are to the patient if they request it. If a facility fails to abide by the laws they leave be fined. Any person who obtains or discloses identifiable PHI can spunk a criminal penalty of up to $50,000 and up to one grade in prison (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services, n. d. ) the person will likely be terminated from their position as well.These regulations effect the wariness of employees, patients, resources, and ealth care because everyone commands to be trained in HIPAA practices and know the laws and regulations. Patients need to understand and sign consent forms and be made aware of what their rights are through the policy. One could say HIPPA makes for more paperwork however it is crucial to protect our patients privacy and the relationship with our outside resources. Once all understood by all of the staff, and patients everyone will understand how valuable HIPAA genuinely is.