The document discusses the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects individuals' health information. It establishes guidelines for when a covered entity, such as a health care provider, is allowed to disclose protected health information. The major goal of HIPAA is to define situations when health information may be used or disclosed, and to give individuals access to their own health records and control over how their information is shared. The Privacy Rule aims to balance privacy rights with necessary information sharing for treatment, payment, and health care operations.

2.  From the Summary of the
HIPAA Privacy Rule
United States Department
of Health Human Services
 The Health Insurance
Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996
(HIPAA) established the
privacy rule that assured
an individual’s health
information was protected,
provided, and promoted
high quality health care.

3. The Major of HIPAA
 The major goal of HIPAA is to limit access
of an individual’s health information by
creating a definition of which situations
information may be used or disclosed by
covered entities. A covered entity under
the following circumstances may not use
or disclose protected health information,
unless privacy permits or is allowed by the
individual who is the subject of the
information( or the individual’s personal
representative) which must be authorized
in writing, except in emergency
situations.
 There are two situations in which covered
entity must disclose protected health
information :
 (1) to individuals (or their personal
representatives) when they request access
to health information and permission has
been given in writing,
 (2) in an emergency medical situation
when an individual is unable to give
consent.

4.  A covered entity is allowed but not
mandated to use and disclose protected
health information, without an individual’s
authorization, in the following situations:
 A covered entity may disclose protected
health information to the individual who is
the subject of the information when it
takes place in person as long as it is shared
in a private setting.
 The individual has the right to request that
restricted use be used by a covered entity
for treatment, payment or health care
operations, to persons involved in the
individual’s health care , during payment
process of health care, and in situations of
disclosure to notify family members or
others about the individual’s general
condition, location or event of death.

5.  A covered entity may disclose  Without an individual’s
protected health information authorization or permission
for quality or competency health care information can be
assurance activities, fraud and shared for the public interest as
abuse detection as well as in the report of child abuse,
compliance activities, if both domestic violence and neglect,
covered entities have or had a and for prevention or control
relationship with the individual and to public health or other
and the protected health government authorities. This
information specifically pertains information may be shared with
to the relationship between government authorities.
parties.

6.  All covered health care providers
must permit individuals to request  The health care staff must share health
their personal health care care information and records with the
information on record and must patient in a private place. The health
accommodate reasonable requests care staff cannot ask the patient
by individuals as it relates to information about themselves in open
communications of protected health public settings such as a hall way ,
information. waiting rooms, in elevators, on the
 A health plan must permit street, on shuttles, or in front of other
individuals to receive patients in which they may over hear or
communications of protected health over see private information.
information from the health plan by
alternative means or at alternative
locations, if the individual clearly
states that the disclosure of all or
part of that information could
endanger the individual.

7.  The covered entity must be careful to treat
a “personal representative” the same as the
individual. Utmost respect must be used
during the sharing of an individual’s
personal protected health information, as
well as the individual’s right under the
rule. A person legally authorized to make
health care decisions on an individual’s
behalf or to act for a deceased individual or
the estate is called a person’s representative.
Exceptions can be made when a covered
entity has a reasonable belief that the
personal representative may be abusing or
neglecting the individual or treating the
person in such a manner as to cause harm.
Parents are the personal representatives for
their minor children in most cases. They
are allowed access to their children’s
medical record.

8.  Disclosures and incidental use
are permitted, so long as
reasonable safeguards are
applied to protect the
individual’s information under
HIPP A guidelines.

9. al
Safe internet use must be applied by
health care staff at all times.
 Individual health care information
must be stored in secure files.
 Memory sticks and portable
computers must be secure.
 Lock down cables must be used
with all computers.
All computers must have antivirus
protection in use and regularly
updated.

10.  Positive Impact-
 The HIPAA Act has given increased rights to the patient in
the form of personal health care information privacy.
 HIPAA has given patients the right to access their own
personal health care information.
 HIPAA provides a detailed audit trail in order to track and
identify times that patient information and records have
been modified or accessed, this in turns raises the level of
accountability and transparency.

11.  Negative Impact-
 While direct cost to patients is minimal, the cost to health
care providers is significant and can strain and overburden
already high budgets.
 HIPAA in their complexity can be difficult to apply
causing health information management professionals to
misinterpret rules on a personal basis.
 Studies by the Association of Academic Health Care
Center has shown that HIPAA regulations create barriers
to research that involve personal subjects because sharing
of individual data is sometimes caught up in red tape or
not allowed.

12.  Negative Impact Continued.-
 The Executive Leadership Group of Vice Presidents
for Research of the Association of Academic Health
Centers (AAHC) shows that the Privacy rule within
HIPAA has serious and at times detrimental effects on
biomedical research especially when applied to access
of stored tissue and genetic datasets.

13.  The HIPAA Act which went into effect on April
14th, 2003 despite some negative impacts on health
care and research is a vast improvement over
previous protection. It may need to be further
addressed and modified in order to better support
the speed in which research needs to allow for the
develop of new drugs, and treatments of diseases.
In addition the cost of implementing HIPAA at
smaller hospitals and facilities needs to be offset
with increased government assistance.

14.  http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa
 Ocr” Public Health” Guidance; CDC Public Health
and HIPAA
 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-negative-effe
18500.ht