How Has HIPAA Changed the Medical World? A better question might be: How has it not changed it? That would be a very short answer. HIPAA was developed due to the fact a deadline was not made. The medical community could not accomplish it, so the government took over, and put it into action October 2002. Who Does HIPAA Apply To? - Insurance companies that deliver health plans must be in compliance with HIPAA. Any type of insurer is required to abide by HIPAA rules and regulations, and can face stiff penalties if they fail to do so. This changed insurance companies considerably; no longer could they simply give out or obtain information with and from medical facilities. If a patient is admitted to a hospital, and has not granted permission, the hospital cannot discuss the patient at all with the insurance company. Of course, this would mean they would not cover the costs, if they don't know why the patient was admitted they can't be expected to pay. Insurance companies also like to have a say in how long a patient is hospitalized and at what level, without permission granted by the patient, per HIPAA regulations the insurance company would be left out completely. For this reason, when a patient is admitted to a hospital, they sign forms giving the hospital permission to discuss their condition with the insurance company. - Doctors’ Offices and medical practices must now comply with HIPAA. Unless the patient authorizes the medical facility permission to share their information, they cannot legally do so. This can involve other medical offices, pharmacies, home health care agencies, and family members. When a patient signs in at the doctor’s office on the first visit, they are required to sign a HIPAA form that indicates they understand their rights and obligations where sharing information is concerned. - Pharmacies must also comply with HIPAA. This means if a physician’s office needs to provide a referral to another office, or discuss your case with anyone, including family, other physicians or laboratories. Related:
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With the implantation of electronic health care records, it eliminated the need to have files, and hundreds of drawers to accommodate them. Electronic records are great;however, the medical facilities must have strict guidelines in place to assure medical records are securely stored by the
electronic system. Records can be easily sent to another health careprovider; however,they need to be safely sent, with no chance of interception by a third party. Remember the days when you could call a hospital and provide a name to determine the condition of a patient? That will no longer happen. Many hospitals now provide a code or password that must be used in order to obtain information about a patient. The patient decides who can receive the code, and without the code, no information with be given on the patient’scondition. Ironically, patients still have roommates in hospitals, which bring up the subject of HIPAA. How is an intake done, or when a doctor visits, it's obvious the other patient in the room is hearing the conversation? HIPPA has relaxed their rules in these cases, with the only requirement being that the divider curtain must be closed. Related: Working as a Nurse in the Field of Psychiatry There is no question that some typeof health information privacy act needed to be put into place, and HIPAA is here to stay, so we have it for good. The rules protect the rights of patients, so that their health information is not discussed with anyone they have not authorized to have it. HIPAA may seem like a hassle at times, both to medical personnel and to patients. However, consider this, perspective employers, friends, essentially anyone could obtain your medical history without HIPAA in place, so it really is a much-needed regulation. HIPAA does exactly what it was intended to do, protects the healthcare information for every person. If information needs to be shared, it's simply a matter of signing consent to share, asmall priceto pay for securing health care records, and making sure everyone's privacy is protected. Related: Registered Nurse Marie Lois Haran, RN, MSN, will be Honorably Mentioned in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter