Free Essay On The Specific Patient Rights Established By The HIPAA Law

The Specific Patient Rights Established By the HIPAA Law

Introduction
The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was established on 21st of August, 1996 (Nass et al., 2009). The major objective of this law was to improve efficiency in delivery of healthcare and make more Americans to take up health insurance (Nass et al., 2009). It also protects the privacy and safety of information related to health care, as well as helping in controlling the administrative cost in the competitive industry. Under this Act, the patients have several rights that enable them to get more information and control regarding their health.

Specific Patient Rights

The main aim of the Portability and Tax Provisions contained in HIPAA is to protect people with health insurance from losing their coverage because of a preexisting condition when they change employment (Nass et al., 2009). Whenever a person gets a new job, they are entitled to the health plan of the current employer, and this provision provides adequate protection in such circumstances. More so, this portability provision also encourages self-employed and unemployed people to buy health insurance. In essence, they do not need the protection of the employer to purchase coverage. By so doing, this provision minimizes the number of unemployed and self- employed people without health insurance coverage (Nass et al., 2009).
HIPAA also contains the Administrative simplification Provisions that were formulated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary. Primarily, these provisions issue numerous regulations pertaining to the transmission of health information through electronic means (NASW, 2002). In the 1990s, there was a proliferation in the use of electronic data within the health care industry. Health plans requested the Federal government to provide standardized regulations in this area through the Congress, necessitating the inclusion of these provisions in the final copy of the HIPAA (Nass et al., 2009).
Regulations under these provisions have specified the technical, physical and administrative procedures that healthcare providers, clearing houses and insurance plans must integrate when handling health information (Nass et al., 2009). All these aim to protect the unauthorized disclosure, use and access of health information under their custody. It simply implies that all the afro mentioned parties must comply with all stipulated measures to ensure confidentiality of all the patient information under their custody.
Additionally, the Secretary also developed the standards for formulating distinct employer, providers, and patient and health plan health identifiers under the guidance of the administrative provisions (Nass et al., 2009). Health identifiers simply refer to unique national numbers that help in identifying organizations or individuals during a normal health transaction. By so doing, this provision helps in ensuring all the medical bills correctly portray the individual and the healthcare providers’ information during any transaction.
Furthermore, the administrative provisions under HIPAA also made it mandatory to create privacy standards to protect the personal identifiable health information. Congress realized that the widespread use of electronic data and the technological advances was a threat to the privacy of patient medical information (NASW, 2002). It was important to come up with a privacy clause to ensure utmost protection of health information. The provision incorporates various basic information practices. Primarily, the rule stipulates the measures that aim at restricting the disclosure and use of safeguarded health information. It also outlines the exceptions to this rule, such as the sharing of health information after getting consent from the patient. In addition, the provision also stipulates the various instances that information can be shared and the procedure to follow under the Privacy Rule (Nass et al., 2009). More so, this rule also accords individuals particular rights in regard to their medical information. For instance, after analyzing the health information, patients have the right to correct or include any missing information that they feel is incorrect.

Conclusion

HIPAA law has provided patients with critical protection in matters pertaining to health information. It offers vital controls regarding the use and disclosure of the health information. By so doing, the Act increases trust and the patients’ willingness to obtain health care services.

References

Nass, S. J., Levit, L. A., Gostin, L. O., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2009). Beyond the HIPAA privacy rule: Enhancing privacy, improving health through research. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
National Association of Social Work (NASW). (January 2002). Overview of HIPAA administrative simplification provisions. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/behavioral_health/mbh0203.asp