Part I
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act refers to a law which protects consumers of healthcare from unpermitted access to their health information by third parties. The main goal of the privacy rule is ensuring that healthcare consumers do not have their private information shared with unauthorized parties against their will. In the healthcare industry, healthcare information of a person is quite sensitive and can be used by a malicious person to achieve ulterior motives. In some cases, people private information has been used to cause harm through acts such as public embarrassment.
The HIPAA security rule is the set of laws which protect the electronically stored health information of patients. The security rule sets a number of standards meant to secure the important and sensitive patient health information stored in electronic form ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) . The importance of the HIPAA security rule emanates from the fact that many healthcare organizations like insurance companies, hospitals and clinical centres are fast becoming paperless by employing the electronic record systems for storage of data and health information. As they transition into the use of soft copy data, these institutions are faced with issues of safety and security of the health information because of the cyber-hackers and possibility of unauthorised access to passwords. Therefore, the HIPAA security rule is important because it seeks to protect the digital health information of patients.
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A covered entity is any healthcare organization which is supposed to comply with the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The HIPAA privacy rules cover health plans like the insurance companies, the healthcare clearing houses, and providers of health treatment services such as hospitals and pharmacies.
It is important to note that the HIPAA privacy rule does offer protection to all individually identifiable health information which is held or transmitted by an organization covered or its business associate. This information may be held in the form of hard copy paper or electronic devices. The transmission may also be oral ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) . This specific type of information is protected by the HIPAA privacy rule. Individually identifiable health information refers to demographic data related to the past, present and future physical or mental status of a person. This information also entails data about the healthcare provision to a given person. Individually identifiable information also refers to the past, present and future payment data for healthcare provision by a person. This information is clear and sufficient enough to identify a person with specificity. Common identifiers include name, address, date of birth, national identification number, passport number and the social security number.
The main purpose of the HIPAA privacy rule is guiding the uses and disclosures of health information held by the covered entities. It is important to note that the privacy rule is well balanced since it permits necessary uses and disclosures of information albeit while strictly protecting the confidentiality of people who go to hospitals to get treatment. It implies that this privacy rule is quite flexible and suits all situations in the field of healthcare. The HIPAA provides that the major purpose of the privacy rule is to define and limit the situations within which a person’s protected health information can be disclosed or used by the entities covered.
Situations within which a covered entity can use or disclose a person’s health information include cases where the privacy rule permits or requires, on consent by the protected individual or patient who must be the owner of the health information ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) . The authorization by the third party representing the protected individual must be in writing. It is important to note that a covered entity has to disclose protected heath information only to the protected individuals and their authorized representatives and to the HHS when it is doing compliance investigation for an enforcement action.
The phrase TPO stands for Treatment, Payment, and Health Care Operations. It is a condition under which a covered entity is permitted, but not required, to use or disclose a patient’s health information without their consent. Other situations include Opportunity to Agree or Object, incident to an otherwise permitted use and disclosure, Public Interest and Benefit Activities and Limited Data Set for use in research work or public health operations ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) .
The privacy practices notice offers information about the ways in which a company may use and disclose health information which is protected. The notice also states the duties implemented by the covered entity to protect privacy and abide by the inherent terms.
Penalties who contravene confidentiality terms may have their licenses revoked permanently, pay fines to the regulatory authority and damage fee to the victim affected. Essentially, there are civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.
Part II
A mandated reporter is a person authorized and ordered to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment when they have reasonable grounds to believe such an act has happened. Confidentiality simply means not revealing information regarding the identity of the victim to the public or third parties ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) . This information may be one that could subject the victim to public stigma. Their identities including names have to be kept anonymous.
Healthcare workers who release the private health information of patients without their consent can face consequences such as fines and suspension. However, such rogue healthcare workers may have their practice licenses permanently revoked and their names de-registered hence become unable to legally work anymore anywhere ( Haag-Heitman & George, 2011) .
References
Haag-Heitman, B. & George, V. (2011). Nursing peer review: principles and practice. American Nurse Today , 6 (9), 48-52.
