Misconceptions about HIPAA

Answer

            HIPAA is a relatively new approach that most health facilities are taking when it comes to employee management and workspace. Since most of the health facilities are in need of more space for patients, they are sending some of their employees to work from home. By working from home, they can perform the same tasks just like the ones they perform at the health facility. Simply HIPAA is a system where medical services are taken online. The major misconception regarding HIPAA is the fact that the information of patients is not in safe hands; hence it can be shared with other parties. For instance, since some of the workers are working from home, they can easily disclose the patients' confidential medical records to parties such as insurance providers. However, this is not the case since the code of conduct which guided the employees in the workplace is still the code that binds them even when they are working from home. Secondly, there is a misconception that the output of the employee is reduced since there is no direct supervision. However, even while working from home there are measures put in place which ensures they work for the normal hours (Cohn, Dea & Cooper, 2003).

            Question 2

            In the medical field, a covered transaction is a situation whereby the health practitioners are expected to keep the details of the patient confidential regardless of the platform through which the information is shared. This is like a set code of conduct, data and information security (transfer) that health practitioners should follow (Patterson et al., 2014). An example of a covered transaction is where a health facility worker is approached by an insurance provider and requested to give patient records. However, the law does not allow for such because it goes against the covered transaction rules as the insurance broker might use this information to calculate premiums’ for the patient.

            Question 3

            Patient confidentiality is quite an issue due to a number of factors. To begin with, there exist issues to do with the profession itself. Most of the doctors are not stationed in one location for long regardless whether they are in private or public fields. Since they are always on the move, the confidential information of patients is passed on from one doctor to another. Chances of information which is known by several medical practitioners leaking is very high (Cohen & Caswell, 2017). Secondly, there are issues with the patients themselves. Some of the patients have a tendency of not paying their medical providers for the medical services offered. In return, the medical practitioners no matter how they would like to keep the information confidential, they end up leaking it to insurance providers to counter the effect of the patient not paying since the insurance provider will pay.

            Question 4

            Depending on the nature of the issues leading to patient information leaking, the first security precaution is making sure that most of my medical staff do not quit our health facility for another facility. As a result of this, most patients will end up creating a confidential rapport with only a single health practitioner. Secondly, the information which is at the discretion of the medical staff should be limited to only what is useful. Some information such as the social status or family of the patient should not be known to the medical staff. This would create a culture of confidentiality (Gregorian et al., 2017).    

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