HIPAA Laws

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was intended to protect employees’ health insurance coverage when they lose or change jobs. HIPAA also ensures privacy and confidentiality of Protected Health Information (PHI).

However, not all health-related information falls under HIPAA. The health insurance portability and accountability act consider protected health information as individually identifiable information focusing on a past, present, or future health status created, gathered, transmitted, or stored by a HIPAA-covered organization.

In most cases, it focuses on healthcare provision, services, insurance, and utilization of healthcare operations. The confidential considerations outlined in HIPAA apply to healthcare providers, health insurance companies, and employers.

The laws are significant in safeguarding individual rights to minimize access to protected health information. HIPAA violations by medical staff can either be intentional or unintentional; however, they can result in significant penalties.

Violation of HIPAA laws by medical personnel

Several mistakes occur within medical settings as nurses and doctors discharge their duties. The mistakes can be intentional or unintentional. Nurses and other medical professionals violate HIPAA laws when patients’ confidential information is disclosed to unauthorized parties.

In some cases, patients’ confidential information may be posted on social media platforms without hiding patients’ identities. Thus, medical personnel must exercise caution when dealing with Protected Health Information. Health organizations handling PHI should always ensure that protected information remains confidential to curb such information from being released to unauthorized parties.

Example of scenarios where medical personnel can violate HIPAA regulations

Scenario 1

Nurses and other medical staff can act contrary to the HIPAA regulations when an employee working in an emergency room within a health organization takes photos and posts them on social media.

The emergency room staff significantly save lives in the emergency rooms by responding promptly to patient needs. Contrariwise, if they take patient photos and post them on social media without hiding their identities, they violate HIPAA principles. In most cases, such scenarios can result in lawsuits and huge compensations, especially when the persons in the photos are recognizable.

Scenario 2

Violation of HIPAA regulations occurs when medical staff discloses a patient’s PHI to unauthorized parties. Thus, it is always imperative for health organization staff to ascertain authorization credentials to curb exposing patients’ information to the wrong hands. Most patients restrict their PHI shared with other parties; hence, staff should keenly assess authorization documentations.

A case illustrating HIPAA violations by a medical staff

A patient with an unusual sporting accident went to a hospital seeking medical attention to rectify his situation. However, after treatment, the health facility released the patient’s protected health information to a local media house. Some of the released information included copies of the client’s x-ray reports and a detailed description of the patient’s health status.

The local media outlets went ahead to feature the x-ray reports and the patient’s health status on the cover page. The newspaper article comprehensively described how the accident occurred, how it occurred, the patients’ gender, his medical condition, and reports from the facility’s medical staff describing such unusual sporting accidents.

Why the hospital released the patient’s PHI to local media outlets and the violations

The hospital disclosed that it released the patient’s protected health information (PHI) to local media outlets to curb severe threats to health and safety. On the contrary, the investigations conducted by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) showed that the disclosures did not adhere to standard privacy rules for such actions.

The OCR also showed that the disclosures failed to meet the rules de-identification standard. Therefore, such disclosures to the local media outlets were unlawful since the patient did not authorize them.

Measures adopted by the facility to curb HIPAA violations

The Office of the Civil Rights (OCR) required the health facility to design and implement a disclosure policy concerning severe threats to health and safety. It also demanded the hospital to educate its entire staff on the new policy.

The OCR took the measures to ensure that PHI is not released to media outlets without a patient’s consent. Additionally, health organizations can curb HIPAA violations by not leaving portable devices and documents unattended. Finally, HIPAA violations in health facilities can be mitigated by destroying improperly disclosed personal health information.