Integrating technology in healthcare led to the development of various policies aimed at protecting health data. Patient data was increasing its significance in healthcare delivery, forcing the US government to enact laws that could protect this data. This healthcare scenario will address HIPPA violations. A patient who was set to undergo a surgical procedure at Villa Health Clinic did not sign a written consent at the time of the surgery. Following this delay, the insurance provider did not receive a copy of the consent, as the law states. However, the clinic employee provided the insurer with the necessary information regarding the patient. Despite explaining the issue to the insurance provider, the provider called the supervisor to report the issue as a HIPPA violation.
Briefly Explain the Law, Regulation, Standard, et cetera* | Briefly Explain How the Law, Regulation, Standard, et cetera Applies to the Privacy Breach/HIPAA Violation | |
Applicable Law(s) | Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) act dealing with the online sharing of patient data (Chen & Benusa, 2017). | The hospital violated this law to the point where the clinic shared the electronic medical information with the insurance provider without written patient consent. HIPPA rules and the HITECH act align with the data confidentiality of patients in health care organizations. These rules have widely been applied in the healthcare sector to improve care efficiency and enhance patient outcomes through better decision support systems. |
Applicable Specific Regulation(s) | Two major regulations violated in this scenario were 45FR164.504 and 164.506. These regulations state that healthcare organizations do not have the authority to share medical information with the plan sponsor without written consent from the patient (Moore & Frye, 2020). | The act of sharing the medical information of the mentioned patient without written consent violated these regulations. As noted earlier, HIPPA rules are critical for ensuring that patients’ medical records are safe, accurate, and transparent. Various key information is also needed for the database to attain the utmost security. Accessing client medical data require authorized personnel as it will increase information security on the health data. However, in this case, surgical data was shared without the patient’s written consent. |
Disclosure | HIPPA regulations hold that it is illegal to disclose private patient information without their consent in written form (Moore & Frye, 2020). | Critical patient information includes imaging reports, laboratory results, social security numbers, immunization history, vital signs, past and current medications, past medical and surgical history, current medical issues, and patient demographics. In this case, the clinic employee shared the information without gaining written consent from the patient. This is violating HIPPA privacy rules. |
Applicable Human Resource Law(s) | The employees at Villa Heath are part health data security system and are responsible for observing the HIPPA regulations. The law prohibits healthcare employees from unauthorized sharing of patient information (Chen & Benusa, 2017). | This law was violated to the point that the employee shared information without gaining the patient’s consent. This appeared like a violation of the privacy rights of the patient. The cultural difference among employees might affect HIPPA policies as some employees would not adhere to the new policy ratified in the organization. The reception of the message on the limitation of the data sharing protocol might send the employees feeling that the management feels the client data is not safe for them. However, educating employees on the policy must be educated before forming part of the organizational culture. |
Applicable Industry Accrediting Body Standards | HIPPA violation rules apply in this scenario (Chen & Benusa, 2017). | The employee breached HIPPA regulations by sharing the patient information without gaining their consent. This action violate
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