Hippa & Healthcare

HIPPA and Healthcare; A Good Relationship

June 25, 2010

The code of ethics that that has become the standard for health care is the privacy act known as HIPPA which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This particular legislation has helped to set a national standard for health care. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 took effect on April 14, 2003. This privacy rule created national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information. This act gives patients more control over their health information. One part of the privacy rule, HIPPA, aims to keep your medical information private and prevent unnecessary disclosure of your protected health information (PHI). That doesn’t your doctor can’t talk to anyone about your health information. Your doctor can still disclose your PHI (permissive disclosure) without consent in many situations, especially if it is related to treatment, payment, or health care operations. For example, if you have a health crisis, your doctor has to tell your insurance company about it to get them to pay your health bill, but other entities such as a credit card company does not have to be told about your PHI. Although HIPPA is welcomed by many consumer advocacy groups and patients, it is a headache for many doctors and hospitals trying to conform to these new rules. The new rules require hospitals and doctor’s offices’ to do a better job of keeping information confidential. Even for the not so observant patient, most would concede a change in how doctor’s offices’ and clinics operate. You might see charts face down, patient’s names are no longer listed openly and, hospitals no longer give out patient room numbers or acknowledge a patient is in the hospital without enough information to indentify who you are and your relationship to the patient. I personally agree with the new guidelines HIPPA has implemented but, the...