HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA was initiated in 1996 with the initial objective of ensuring workers received health insurance cover when they were in between jobs. HIPAA act also sought security for patient information in a bid to get rid of healthcare fraud. The purpose of HIPAA extends towards better healthcare hence its introduction of standards that reduce paperwork and improve efficiency. Coded data makes it easier and more efficient to transfer healthcare data among healthcare organizations such as insurers, billing, and other hospitals. Another purpose of HIPAA is to forbid tax on loans taken for life insurance. HIPAA also regulates taxing on medical savings and imposes group health covers (HIPAA Journal, 2017). One example of HIPAA is to ensure a means of control to access to patients’ information individually through passwords and pin codes for each user. Another HIPAA regulation is that all business associates to covered entities must comply with and fulfill the physical, technical and administrative safeguards as required by HIPAA. HIPAA also regulates medical information for patients should be encrypted to NIST standards as they are transferred to other health care operations. Also, HIPAA regulates risk assessment for medical records by security officers and determine possible vulnerability to breaches. HIPAA regulates risk assessment by requiring assessment in regular intervals and measures implemented to minimize identified risks. The HIPAA also regulates emergency cases by requiring that contingency plans must be put in place beforehand for continued transactions and preservation of privacy of health information (HIPAA Journal, 2017). Covered entities refer to health care providers or health plans that in their day to day transaction transmit Protected Health Information. Some of HIPAA covered entities include Health insurance companies, dentists, doctors, hospitals, HMO’s and nursing homes (Department of Health and Human Services, n.d). Other bodies transacting with covered entities as business associates have to adhere to HIPAA regulations by the fact that the transactions relate to covered entities. (324)
Healthcare organizations face a number of challenges in implementing HIPAA. At the top of the challenges faced in training personnel on compliance especially with the changes in rules. Training includes educating health care providers to use advanced technologies, and sometimes it becomes costly and complex. Another challenge in need to revise business associates agreements with the updates and revisions of HIPAA act so as to incorporate the changes. Covered entities have a challenges getting business associate to revise agreements and comply with HIPAA regulations. HIPAA regulations also make it challenging to enter into and maintain agreements with business associates. Other challenges include restricting disclosure for patients who pay in cash, providing patients with the access to their personal information and revising breach assessment procedures. The challenges showcase a need for an organization to take on the appropriate HIPAA cloud suppliers to be in a position to counter the challenges (Health Works Collective, 2014). There is also a challenge in integrating compliance and patient care. HIPAA security and privacy rule require the incorporation of high-end technologies within healthcare organizations. The technologies result in the complexity of the communication and record sharing processes making compliance a major challenge for the healthcare organizations. It makes it difficult for organizations to integrate security measures into the organization's overall goals and at the same time focus on patient care. HIPAA only outlines security and privacy measure but does not define the specific technologies organization should use to attain the privacy and security rules. The flexibility of technologies to use lays a burden on covered entities to formulate their strategies and proactively scrutinize technologies that will meet the required regulations and serve organizational goals at the same time (Perfect Serve Inc., 2016). As a result, health organizations may be more focused on acquiring and utilizing the right technologies to meet HIPAA regulations and lose sight of the fundamental healthcare objective which is patient care. (318)
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References
Health Works Collective. (2014). Toughest challenges with implementing the latest HIPAA regulations . Retrieved on 8 September 2018 from https://www.healthworkscollective.com/biggest-challenges-implementing-latest-hipaa-regulations/
HIPAA Journal. (2017). What is the purpose of HIPAA? Retrieved on 8 September 2018 from https://www.hipaajournal.com/purpose-of-hipaa/
Perfect Serve Inc. (2016). HIPAA regulation: The challenge of integrating compliance and patient care . Retrieved on 8 September 20918 from http://www.perfectserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/HIPAA-Regulation-White-Paper.pdf
US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d). Covered entities and business associates . Retrieved on 8 September 2018 from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html
