Essay Example on HIPAA Privacy Rule: Securing Patient Health Info

It is imperative to note that the Health Insurance Portability Act is one of the federal laws enacted in 1996. It required the creation of various national standards that were believed to protect any sensitive information concerning the health of the patient from being disclosed without their knowledge or consent (Cohen & Mello, 2018). In a bid to ensure that the requirements of this Act were implemented, the United States Department of Health and Human Services established the Privacy Rule. However, the Security Rule under HIPAA only protects given specific information that is covered by the Privacy Rule (Cohen & Mello, 2018).

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Electronic Health Information is used by health care organizations to keep and store the electronic versions of the medical history of their patients. The information may include critical administrative, clinical data relevant to the patient like progress notes, demographics, medications, past medical history of the patient, immunizations, laboratory data, problems, and vital signs (Koch, 2016). It is important to note that electronic health information helps automate information access, thereby streamlining the care provider's workflow. Also, it helps electronic health information or records help to support related care activities, either directly or indirectly (Koch, 2016). Therefore, the paper will define and discuss what protected information is and situations in which it can be disclosed. Also, a discussion on the differences between privacy rule and security rule used in the laboratory will be made. Further, the paper will explain the differences between identifiable and unidentified information and the rules that accompany them.

Protected health information, also known as personal health information, is referred to as any information available in the medical records that can be used to identify a patient or an individual and that was created, disclosed, or used while providing health care service like treatment or diagnosis (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Hence, it can be stated that protected health information is any information that one can personally identify within medical records. This includes even conversations between nurses and doctors concerning treatment. Understandably, personal health information consists of any identifiable patient information and other billing information in the computer system of a health insurance company. Most importantly, it is believed that protected health information is the understanding and definition used by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to help define the type of patient information covered by this law (Cohen & Mello, 2018).

For any health data to be considered as personal health information, and be regulated by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, then it has to be personally identifiable to the patient in question and; it has to be used or disclosed to a given entity during the process of providing care (Koch, 2016). Some of the examples of protected health information are results of blood tests, billing information from the doctor or nurse, phone records, among others. Notably, the number of calories burned, readings from a blood sugar that does not contain personally identifiable user information, and several steps in pedometer are some examples of patient data that are not considered protected health information (Koch, 2016).

To better understand protected health information, it is essential to know why the health information of patients is protected. The security and privacy of health information cannot be understated. In the United States, it is regulated by federal laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and other state laws that protect people from being discriminated based on their genetic information (Koch, 2016).

Firstly, it is essential to note that health data is personal and contains information that one would wish to keep confidential, like mental health information (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Also, it should be understood that health information can affect insurance or employment capabilities. Because of this, protecting health information is very important. Secondly, protected health information is considered as long living as opposed to credit cards that can be canceled. A protected medical history can stay with an individual for a lifetime (Koch, 2016). Also, the increased reliability of accurate health data in this digital era is crucial to both patients and clinicians. Lastly, protecting health care information makes it comprehensive and complete. The information that health care organizations have on their clients does include not only medical data but also financial and insurance account information (Cohen & Mello, 2018).

On the one hand, it is essential to note that the Privacy Rule procedures indicate the use as well as disclosure of patient's health information by organizations that are subject to the Privacy Rule (Kayaalp et al., 2015). The organizations and individuals acting as care providers are known as covered entities. Also, this rule contains standards for individuals' various rights to enable them to understand and control how their different health information is being used (Kayaalp et al., 2015). Notably, a significant objective of the Privacy Rule is to ensure that health information of individuals is appropriately and adequately protected. It enables a smooth flow of health information required to provide and enhance quality healthcare alongside protecting the health of the public and well-being. The Privacy Rule's advantage is that it helps create a balance where there is an effective and proper use of information alongside protecting the privacy of clients who seek healing and care (Kayaalp et al., 2015).

Some of the organizations and individuals considered as covered entities and are subject to Privacy Rules include health plans, which are entities that pay or provide the cost of medical care (Kayaalp et al., 2015). These health plans include dental, health, prescription drug insurers, vision, Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Insurers, and long-term insurers. It also includes groups that are sponsored by employers. Another covered entity is healthcare providers, regardless of the size of the practice, which transmits health information electronically concerning certain transactions (Cohen & Mello, 2018). The transactions include inquiries on benefits eligibility, claims, authorization requests on referrals, and other transactions. Healthcare clearinghouses are also entities that help in the processing of non-standard information that they get from other entities into a required standard format and vice versa.

In most cases, it is believed that health care clearinghouses receive personally identifiable information only when they are giving processing services to a healthcare provider or a health plan. The last entity is the business associates, which can be an organization or a person disclosing or using personally identifiable health information to provide or perform functions, services, or activities for a given covered entity (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Notably, these activities, services, or functions include data analysis, processing of claims, billing, and utilization review.

On the other hand, as Privacy Rule of Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act standards protects health information of individuals, it should be understood that the Security Rule only guards a subset of specific information that is covered in the Privacy Rule (Koch, 2016). The health information in this subset is all personally identifiable that a covered entity creates, maintains, receives, or that which can be transmitted in electronic format. As a result, the information in this category is referred to as electronically protected health information. Notably, protected health information transmitted in writing orally does not apply to Security Rule (Koch, 2016). For covered entities to comply with the Security Rule under HIPAA, they have to ensure that confidentiality, availability, and integrity of all the electronic protected health information is adhered to (Koch, 2016). Also, the entities must safeguard and detect any threats to information security. Another issue is that they must protect against any unauthorized disclosures and uses. Lastly, the entities must certify and show compliance (Koch, 2016).

It is important to note that while considering requests for the disclosures and uses of such information, covered entities should ensure that they adhere to professional ethics as well as best judgment (Kayaalp et al., 2015). The Department of Health and Human Services for Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing the HIPAA rules as well as other complaints. Any violations by HIPAA can result in criminal as well as civil monetary penalties (Koch, 2016).

Identifiable information is referred to as any information that can be used to contact, identify, or locate a client using other easily accessible sources. Therefore, this category contains information that can be connected to a person like educational, financial, medical, and information concerning employment status (Koch, 2016). The data category that can be used to identify a person includes fingerprints, name, biometric data, telephone number, email address, and even social security number. Therefore, it should be noted that identifiable information is any data or information that can be used to identify a given individual. As indicated above, these include data like passport number, full names, bank account number, email address, among others (Koch, 2016).

However, in unidentified information, there is no information email address, bank information, telephone number, or full names that can directly or indirectly link an individual (Kayaalp et al., 2015). In this case, there is no direct personal information that can be used to identify a person as permanently removed. Asa result, no key or code exists that can link the materials or information available to their sources or owners. Hence, the remaining information cannot be used effectively by anyone to identify its source. The primary use of unidentified information is that they are used to protect the identity or protect the persons associated with that information. Unidentified information is usually used in education for research purposes (Kayaalp et al., 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, there has been a discussion on the various parts of the paper. The paper has extensively defined what protected health information is and situations when it can be disclosed by looking at some of the reasons why health information is protected. Also, a clear difference between the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule and how the two are usually used has been elaborated. Lastly, a difference between identifiable and unidentified information and their different uses has also been discussed.

References

Cohen, I. G., & Mello, M. M. (2018). HIPAA and protecting health information in the 21st century. Jama, 320(3), 231-232. www.jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2682916

Kayaalp, M., Browne, A. C., Sagan, P., McGee, T., & McDonald, C. J. (2015). Challenges and insights in using HIPAA privacy rule for clinical text annotation. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings (Vol. 2015, p. 707). American Medical Informatics Association. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4765667/

Koch, D. D. (2016). Is the HIPAA security rule enough to protect electronic personal health information (PHI) in the cyber age? Journal of Health Care Finance, 43(3). www.healthfinancejournal.com/~junland/index.php/johcf/article/view/67