How HIPAA And Health Information Technology Impacts Health Finance

How HIPAA and Health Information Technology Impacts Health Finance This country is a place of innovation and growth. Every week, there seems to be a new invention created to improve our way of life. This innovation has not escaped the health care industry. In the past decade, we have gone from performing surgeries that produce large cuts on the body, to laparoscopic procedures that only require small incisions. However, with inventions comes cost. Patients who need medical help are all too eager to try the latest in medical technology, but do not see the cost until the end. With procedures comes exchange of Personal Health Information (PHI). There is a cost to protect the patients PHI also. Nothing in health care is free and all aspects of

The focus of this paper will be geared toward the impact that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology have on the cost of health care. The regulations connected to HIPAA have an impact on cost through enforcement, noncompliance, and implementation. HIPAA is a vital tool in the protection of PHI of patients and the improvement of the Medicare and Medicaid programs (Cleverly). Trying to contribute to the improvement of Medicare alone can be a daunting and expensive task alone, but to add the addition of protecting the health records of millions of patients adds to the rising cost. Health Information Technology (HIT), aids in the enforcement of HIPAA and helps with billing patients accurately for services that they have received (Wizemann). Correct billing practices are at the heart of health care finance. Without correct billing, the entity that provides the services would not receive proper payment, and this will damage its profit margin and harm its sustainability. While it may be minuscule to some, the added cost of HIPAA enforcement and the lack of HIT in a medical entity add to operational cost of running a

Under HIPAA, covered entities are under the obligation to follow the rules and regulations that the law enforces (Cleverly). Healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business associates of the listed covered entities face fines and discipline if there is a HIPAA violation (Cleverly). The use or cause to be used of a unique health identifier, obtaining individually identifiable health information relating to an individual, or disclosing individually identifiable health information to another person are all criminal offenses under the HIPAA act (Cleverly). The consequences of violating HIPAA are stiff and severe. The violations are as follows after a conviction: the person will be fined no more than $50,000,and imprisonment will not be more than a year; however, if the violation is committed under false pretenses, the fine is no more than $100,000, imprisonment is no more than five years, or both; and if the violation is done with intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information, for personal gain, commercial advantage, or malicious harm, the fine cannot be more than $250,000, imprisonment no more than ten years, or both (Cleverly). Under civil violations, the consequences are slightly different.