HIPAA Statutes and Rules: Healthcare Information Systems and Privacy

This report examines HIPAA statutes and rules, focusing on the protection of patient health information. It begins with an introduction to HIPAA and its key components, including the Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule. The report explores the National Provider Identifier Standard and its significance in healthcare transactions. It then delves into the features of health information systems (HIS) and their role in healthcare, emphasizing the importance of HIPAA transactions in simplifying processes and reducing costs. The report also analyzes administrative safeguards within the HIPAA Security Rule, highlighting their importance in protecting electronic health information. The Privacy Rule's scope, including covered entities, protected information, and principles for uses and disclosures, is discussed. The enforcement and penalties for noncompliance with the Privacy Rule are also outlined, concluding with the basic principle of the Minimum Necessary standard.

Running head: HIPAA STATUTES 1
HIPAA Statutes and Rules
Student’s Name
Institution’s Name

HIPAA STATUTES 2
Introduction
HIPAA requires that, the department for HHS (Health and Human Services) should
create the regulations for the protection of security and health information privacy. In order to
fulfill its mandate, the HHS creates both the HIPAA security and privacy rules (Cohen and
Mello, 2018).
HIPAA 1996 is the federal law which sets standards on the way in which the health care,
health care clearinghouses, health plan and health care providers should protect the privacy of
their patient’s information (Cohen and Mello, 2018).
Links of different HIPAA rules
. Privacy rule therefore covers the patient information and those intentional disclosure of
such information. On the security Rule, its application is on the Protection of Health Information
which are transmitted or stored electronically therefore it must have safeguards for the purpose
of prevention of the unintended disclosure of the EHI.While the Breach Notification Rule is
responsible for the determination of the theft or loss of the PHI that require to notify patients
who are affected.
The National Provider-Identifier Standard
The National Provider-Identifier Standard is a specific number for the identification
covering those who are providing services in the health care. It is a series of numbers with 10
digits, due to its property of being intelligence identifier every health care worker or provider
should use it in their financial transactions and administrative works. It is a mandatory to be used
in relation to the identifiers provided in the HIPAA standards of transactions (Gerald et al, 2013).

HIPAA STATUTES 3
Features of the Health Information Systems
The HIS (Health information system) over the time has been used for the collection,
storing, processing and the transfer of the needed information for the decision-making and
planning at different levels in the health sector for the purpose of ensuring quality services
(Wager,2017). For a high-quality HIS to be achieved, the primary health care should be
investigated to know the challenges and the barriers they can bring to the institution. The HIPAA
transactions is of importance in every health care as it simplifies the processes and reducing the
cost which are associated with the payment of the health care services and its application is
limited to those that are transmitted electronically (Berwick and Gaines,2018).
Safeguard in the HIPAA Security Rule
One of the safeguards in the health sector is the administrative safeguards which deals
with the procedures, policies, and actions for the management of the selection, implementation,
development and maintenance of the security measures for the protection of the health
information electronically. It implement the policies which aim to prevent, correct, contain, and
detect the security violations. If the health professionals knows the safeguards of the clients, it
will be of ease for the identification of the risk their personal information can be at within the
facility. Protocol and plans whenever the breach of information occurs within the facility can be
manageable.

HIPAA STATUTES 4
Important for HIP to be familiar with safeguard
Privacy Rule was establish as the set of the national protection standards for specific
health information. It addresses the disclosure and the application of the individual health
information. It ensures that, the information is protected as its flow is still there for the delivering
of the quality health services and for the protection of the public health (Simpao, 2015). There is
a balance between the use of the crucial information and protection of the privacy of people
seeking medical care as it is comprehensive as well as flexible to allow for the smooth running of
the health institution.
Who Is Covered by the Privacy Rule?
The Rule normally applied to the health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care
providers who are in charge of the transmission of the information electronically as well as the
transactions (Wager, 2017).
What Information Is Protected?
The protected information in the health care which are given more protection includes the
demographic data, the test results, medical histories, insurance information, and those
information which are used for the identification of the patient.
Principle for Uses and Disclosures
The main aim of the Privacy Rule is to limit and define different circumstances in which
an individual’s health information’s which is protected can be disclosed or used by the covered
entities (Yoo and Daly 2017). The covered entity cannot disclose or use the protected health

HIPAA STATUTES 5
information’s unless, the Privacy Rule is required and when the person who is then subjected to
such an information authorizes in writing.
Enforcement and Penalties for Noncompliance
The Privacy Rule sets limits and rules on who can look or receive the health information
of a person, this is to ensure that the information is protected in a way they cannot interfere with
the health care (McBride et al, 2015). The information can therefore be used for; care
coordination and treatment, for the payment of the hospitals and doctors, with the relatives and
the families and for the protection of the public health by reporting whenever there is an outbreak
in an area.
Basic principle behind the Privacy Rule
The minimum necessary requirement is the basic principle behind the security Rule. The
principle claims that, only the individuals who are in the need for PHI to carry out their duties
should therefore get to observe it unless there is a specific need for their information but the
access to that information must therefore be restricted.
Conclusion
It is importance for the health sector to put more security measures on the information
given by their client and those who are responsible for receiving the information should be of
high integrity as to low the chances of information spread out without the owners permission.

HIPAA STATUTES 6
References
Berwick, D. M., & Gaines, M. E. (2018). How HIPAA harms care, and how to stop it.
Cohen, I. G., & Mello, M. M. (2018). HIPAA and protecting health information in the 21st
Century.
Gerald L. Glandon, Donna J. Slovensky and Detlev H. Smaltz,Information Systems for
Healthcare
Management, Eighth Edition (2013)
McBride, S., Sobel, A., & Caton-Peters, H. (2015). Privacy and Security in a Ubiquitous Health
Information Technology World. Nursing Informatics for the Advanced Practice Nurse.
Simpao, A. F., Gálvez, J. A., & Rehman, M. A. (2015). The Role of Health Information
Management Professionals in Data and Information Governance.
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2017). Health care information systems.
Yoo, C. S., & Daly, K. (2017). What does the FCC rollback of privacy rules actually mean?