Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Legal issues with electronic health records
Hipaa violations eassy
Risks with electronic medical records
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Legal issues with electronic health records
When examining the case of the State of California against Dr Zhou, we can clearly conclude that the HIPAA law of which was convicted of violated is not just words written on paper to buy patients' confidence, it is meaningful law set in place to protect patient privacy and any ones violating this law, regardless of your position in the health care field can be persecuted punished for violating the law, even in the absence damages evidence resulting from the violation of the law. The purpose of this post is to discuss the case of the State of California against the physician, Dr Huping Zhou, in this post I will review the HIPAA law, penalties for violation of the law and why I felt that Doctor Zhou was very fortunate for his punishments four
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act also known as HIPAA has set a national standard for the handling of electronically stored medical records. Medical confidentiality protects conversations between a patient and his or her doctor from being used against the patient in court. It is a part of the rules of evidence in many common law jurisdictions. The penalties for violating HIPPA are based on the level of negligence and can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation or per record, with a maximum of $1.5 million per year. Violations can also carry criminal charges that can result in jail time.
HIPAA Data Breaches When a patient discloses his or her personal information to the medical staff, it is with confidence that the information is secure. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
The act is meant to followed by the rules, but the state can change certain thing according to the way it believes HIPAA should be done. If someone were to commit theft, he or she would have to pay thousand in fines and be sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. The hospitals and medical institutes must call, mail, email, or use the media to inform the victims that his or her information is a risk. They will have up to 30 days to contact everyone involved or an additional 30 if he or she is having trouble finding a large number of people or if the police have to become part of the solution.
When it comes to a patient that does not speak English the first thing we have to do is find someone capable and a professional to translate, complying with all the HIPAA regulations are being taken care of and not violated. Whether it is a live person, over the phone service or if available online. We cannot ask a family member to serve as a translator because we might break the patient confidentiality if the patient does not want anybody knowing his diagnosis and the procedures being done to them. With a deaf patient first we have to find out what is the best way to communicate with the patient if by reading lips always face them forward so they can read our lips, speaking clearly so they can understand a little better what we are trying
Congress enacted HIPAA to help ensure that patients were getting the health coverage needed and patients were getting the privacy needed. Before HIPAA was placed there were a small amount of regulations that enforced the safe handling and privacy of a patient’s information. It became apparent that the medical care industry would become more cost effective by computerizing medical records because of this they needed to come up with new standards regarding the handling and management of health care data. With this they included rules regarding the protection of a patient’s right to have medical privacy, the transfer of medical information as well as the establishment of a patient.
Nurses and doctors take the oath to protect the privacy and the confidentiality of patients. Patients and their medical conditions should not be discussed with anyone who is not treating the patient. Electronic health records are held to the same standards as nurses in that information is to be kept between, and shared only with the immediate care team. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly nor are the violation fines cheap. Depending on the violation, a hospital can be fined from $100 to $50,000 per violation (National Nurse 2011 p 23).
All healthcare professionals, whether it is the receptionists all the way up to the owner of the hospital, are going to have heard about HIPAA at some point in their employment. The punishment is pretty hefty, so that is probably why there are only a couple of cases with violations of HIPAA resulting in criminal severities. The legalities of breaching PHI “to a third party carries a jail term of up to 10 years in addition to a maximum fine of $500,000 if the disclosure is made
The goals of HIPAA are to ensure medical coverage scope for workers and their families when they change or lose their employments and to secure wellbeing information trustworthiness, classification, and accessibility. The objectives are also to enhance our health care framework by making it more proficient, less difficult, and less
There will be patients that dislike the EHR and prefer the old fashion paper system as they believe that to be a safest way to store information. Ethical and social implications of Electronic Health records are not limited to, hacking, provider ’s neglect of loosing laptops with patient confidential information, leaving other patient records up while a different patient is in the room. Insufficient training for staff as many staff may not be properly trained in implementing HIPPA which compromises patient’s privacy. Over worked staff may input wrong information in the EHR such as inaccurate spelling and recording of patients’ name and current medication history.
The HIPAA rule is built to protect and prevent disclosing individuals’, and consumers’ identifiable health care information unlawfully and without getting authority from the concern parties. If someone break the law, individuals are subject to civil penalties of $100 on each violation but the penalty can accumulates based on numbers of violations; the standard maximum limit of civil penalties is $25,000 each person, each year (HIPAA Privacy Rule – What Employers Need to Know, n. d.). As per stacking rules, if a person violated two HIPAA standards, the penalty can be $50,000; Similarly, the criminal penalties subject to maximum of $ 250,000 and ten years in prison can be imposed to those individuals and parties who disclosed protected information
CAL. FAM. CODE § 6926 (2012). DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT OF INFECTIOUS, CONTAGIOUS, OR COMMUNICABLE DISEASES; CONSENT BY MINOR TO CERTAIN MEDICAL CARE; LIABILITY OF PARENTS OR GUARDIANS (a) A minor who is 12 years of age or older and who may have come into contact with an infectious, contagious, or communicable disease may consent to medical care related to the diagnosis or treatment of the disease, if the disease or condition is one that is required by law or regulation adopted pursuant to law to be reported to the local health officer, or is a related sexually transmitted disease, as may be determined by the State Public Health Officer.
1. Locate an interesting article about a HIPAA violation in which a healthcare professional breached patient confidentiality. According to New York Times Article “New York –Presbyterian Hospital has agreed to pay a $2.2 million penalty to federal regulators for allowing television crews to film two patients without their consent- one which was dying, the other in significant distress. Regulators said on Thursday that the hospital allowed filming to continue even after a medical professional asked that it stop.” (Ornstein, 2016) a. Explain how HIPAA was violated
HIPAA Violation rocks hospital! An employee at St. Charles Health system accessed over 2400 patients’ medical records over a two-year period because they were curious. We all know that curiosity killed the cat and now it may have direr consequences for this curiosity seeker and the hospital system. HIPAA Violation without intent to commit fraud The employee who viewed the protected health information (PHI) without a legitimate reason to do so is in jeopardy of large civil fines, loss of their respective clinical license and criminal prosecution.
Failure to understand the law and the risks which the patients undergo may result in major consequences to not only the employee but the consumer as well. Depending on the individual or facility’s violation, the consequences may include a fine of up to $1.5 million and possible corrective action or imprisonment for the actions caused, as well as the leak of personal information for anyone to seek (Carol, n.d.). Due to the technological advancements, the HIPAA law policies have become stricter, thus creating a sort of fear within the healthcare field. For instance, the General Hospital Corp. and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Inc. paid approximately $1.0 million to the government due to violations of the HIPAA law. In this case, an employee working from home accidentally left medical information belonging to 192 patients on a public subway (Carol, n.d.).