Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

You are the Compliance Officer for Rosewood General in Footloose, You have been reviewing the round of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 violations at your facility.

You wonder how this could happen considering all the training that has been provided to staff.

You are even more disturbed when you read that this is a nation-wide problem.

Your boss has asked for a report on what the issues are and possible solutions. He will forward your report to a state-wide task force that has been put together.

The comments will be sent to state representatives for consideration. You decide to take a look at the act itself.  You find that perhaps the issue isn’t the organization but the provisions of HIPAA.

For the first part of the discussion, provide a brief summary of HIPAA.  What is it?

What was the issue it addressed? Then identify at least 3 provisions that look good on paper but proved to be problematic for organizations and patients when implemented (You may have to do some outside research).

Identify what the issues with implementing the provisions were. Then discuss how it can be amended to be more practical.   Also, how the suggested changes will reduce HIPAA violations?