HIPAA Essay

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According to the CDC “The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act of 1996 was created to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge”. (Public Health Professionals Gateway, para 1, 2022). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a federal law that requires the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without authorization. The importance of this keeps employees from having job-lock or from consequences from the terrible aftermath of a situation. Furthermore, it provides standards for individual rights to make an understanding and learn how to control how their health information is used. This …show more content…

Historical/Background Information on [HIPAA] When considering the role HIPAA plays in healthcare it is important to examine how HIPAA came to be. For instance, “ The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that requires the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge (Public Health Professionals gateway, para 1, 2022). This act was based on the fact that patients’ information was being disclosed and little to no protection was being provided. In the healthcare system discretion is required and with the enforcement of HIPAA it establishes a requirement that whatever information is being relayed it must have a patients’ approval in any sort of way. Without national standards and discretion, patients would be an open book with little to no privacy, therefore losing patients and their trust to healthcare. HIPAA fights for the rights of patients and notably limits the number of persons knowing this information. Particularly, this act creates a framework with the government to regulate and shape the future of …show more content…

In every act there can not only be positives there has to be a little bit of negative controversy that conspires along. For example, “ Oversight of record holder compliance with HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements and support for electronic records projects was strengthened in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (Lerner, para 3, 2012). The act continues to grow and strengthen itself to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for anyone. With the economic crash in 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was created to rebuild the United states and therefore HIPAA was affected along with downfall. Little by little HIPAA continued to advance and create better systems and affordable healthcare services for Americans, it also positively impacted healthcare providers as well. Health care providers were greatly impacted as HIPAA started implementing and improving healthcare. For instance, “ As providers, group practices are likely to see their volume of patients increase as more employees retain coverage as required by the act” (Mathews, sub-para 5, 1997). With more coverage for patients, it encourages patients to use their insurance and keep themselves healthy without overthinking or worry. Doctors are now more likely to be able

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