The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps in protecting any confidential information of patients that is stored and transmitted electronically. There are various provisions of HIPAA that specify guidelines that need to be followed in this regard.
HIPAA has specified various organizations known as covered entities that will be subject to these rules and regulations. The privacy and security rules of HIPAA will need to be adhered to by all employees of covered entities. The employees will need to be trained to handle the protected information of patients in a correct way to avoid any intentional or unintentional violation.
5 HIPAA Checklist Points For Physicians
The physicians will need to ensure that all medical records of patients that are stored electronically or physically are safeguarded as per the specifications of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The confidential information could relate the patient's past and current medical records. The vital information that is usually provided by the patient to the physician includes name, address, social security number, date of birth and any other information that can be classified as identifiers. This would mean that any individual who accesses the information will be able to identify the patient easily. Due to this it is necessary that all safeguards are put in place to secure this information and keep it safe. If the protected health information is requested by the patient it must be released to them. Physicians are also permitted to use the protected information of patients for treatment purposes. If the confidential information of the patient is to be used for other purposes then physicians will need to take an authorization from the patient to access the information. Authorization from the patient will not be required for disclosing the information for national priority purposes. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have identified nearly twelve instances when the protected information of patients can be accessed without any authorization. Federal agencies would be able to access the protected information based on court orders. Physicians should have administrative, physical and technical safeguards in place to ensure that the confidential information of patients is not abused or misused. These safeguards will ensure that there is no unauthorized access to medical records.If any physician is found guilty of any violation they would have to face penalties that can be both civil and criminal. The penalties are usually in the form of fine and imprisonment. The extent of penalties would depend on the nature of the violation that has been committed.
When the information is transmitted electronically, it must be encrypted and password protected. These mechanisms will ensure that only authorized individuals will be able to access the medical records of patients.
If the old records of patients need to be destroyed there should be enough safeguards in place to ensure that it is done properly. It is advisable to use a shredder for destroying all old records. All these simple measures by the physicians will ensure that the protected information of patients is safe.
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