HIPAA and Secondary Uses of Electronic Health Data Essay.
Read Chapter 8 of McGonigle & Mastrian and conduct research on HITECH Act and HIPAA.
Discuss the importance of protecting patient information and the impact of the HITECH Act and HIPAA. You must define the key provisions of HITECH Act and HIPAA. You must address how The HITECH Act enhanced HIPAA protections. You must address how HIPAA and HITECH curb inappropriate use of healthcare information by authorized users.
The essay should be 3-4 pages in length.
References should be from textbook and scholarly references.
Paper must be written in APA format.
HIPAA and Secondary Uses of Electronic Health Data
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HIPAA and Secondary Uses of Electronic Health Data
Technological advancements have led to the collection, storage, and sharing of health information electronically to enhance the delivery of quality healthcare services. Today, healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals rely on health data to make decisions regarding the most appropriate care for patients (Li et al., 2021). The continued sharing and use of electronic health data by medical facilities and healthcare professionals have raised privacy and confidentiality concerns. These concerns have prevented some patients from providing their personal health information to their healthcare providers due to the fear that it might be accessed by unauthorized persons (Payne et al., 2019). The federal government enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act to address the security, safety, privacy, and confidentiality issues that healthcare organizations are facing as they continue to collect, store, share, and use electronic health information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). The purpose of this essay is to describe how the provisions of the HIPAA and the HITECH enhance the protection of electronic health data.
The Importance of Protecting Patient Information
Healthcare professionals need to understand why it is important to protect patient information. According to McGonigle & Mastrian (2011), protecting patient information is highly imperative for the provision of quality and safe care to patients. Precisely, protecting patient information promotes the development of strong therapeutic relationships for enhanced healthcare delivery. The Radiological Society of North America (2022) emphasizes the importance of ensuring data privacy and confidentiality in care provision. The agency reports that patients feel free to disclose their personal health information to their healthcare providers when they are assured of their privacy and the confidentiality of that information. Karasneh et al. (2021) further support that knowledge of the need to protect patient protection among healthcare providers guides them to only share personal health information with their fellow professionals who are involved in the care of the patient. Generally, protecting patient information increases a patient’s trust in his or her healthcare provider and enables healthcare professionals to maintain the ethical and legal standards that define their scope of practice.
The Impacts of HITECH Act and HIPAA
The HITECH Act and the HIPAA are the federal laws in the United States that compel healthcare organizations and professionals to protect patient information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule advocates for patients’ rights over their health information. This provision authorizes patients to access their health information whenever they need it. It also gives them the legal power to prevent healthcare providers from modifying and sharing their health information without their consent (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). The other important provision is the HIPAA Security Rule which compels healthcare organizations and professionals to put in place specific protection measures to safeguard personal health information that is shared electronically. Some of the measures that medical facilities have implemented to protect and enhance the security of patient information include the use of access controls such as personal identification numbers (PIN) and passwords to prevent unauthorized access, encrypting stored data, safe storage of computers and electronic devices that contain patient information, and the use of the audit trail feature to record users who access specific types of information in an electronic device (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). Contemporary healthcare settings must comply with HIPAA Privacy and Security rules for enhanced healthcare delivery.
Like the HIPAA, the HITECH Act guides healthcare organizations and providers to patient information. The primary goal of the HITECH Act was to enhance the adoption of health information technology and address loopholes in the HIPAA to facilitate its successful implementation (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). The specific provision that supports this is Subtitle D. As outlined in Subtitle D of the HITECH Act, healthcare organizations and professionals must maximize the privacy and security of personal health information and other forms of electronic health data as they continue to implement electronic health records (EHR) technology (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011).
How the HITECH Act enhanced HIPAA Protections
The HITECH Act has enhanced the implementation of the HIPAA in a number of ways. According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2011), the HITECH Act has influenced healthcare facilities to adopt EHR and improve the security and privacy of patients’ data. The law has prompted the United States government to give financial incentives to healthcare organizations to adopt EHR. The HITECH Act has also supported the implementation of the HIPAA by increasing penalties for healthcare providers that breach or violate the Security and Privacy Rules.
To conclude, both HIPAA and HITECH curb inappropriate use of healthcare information by authorized users. The two laws compel authorized users to abide by the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules to ensure the privacy and security of patients’ data. Additionally, they guide authorized users to protect personal health information as they continue to use the EHR system thereby avoiding penalties imposed by the HITECH Act.
References
Karasneh, R., Al-Mistarehi, A. H., Al-Azzam, S., Abuhammad, S., Muflih, S. M., Hawamdeh, S., & Alzoubi, K. H. (2021). Physicians’ knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes related to patient confidentiality and data sharing. International Journal of General Medicine, 14, 721–731. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S301800
Li, L., Novillo-Ortiz, D., Azzopardi-Muscat, N., & Kostkova, P. (2021). Digital data sources and their impact on people’s health: a systematic review of systematic reviews. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 645260. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.645260
McGonigle, D. & Mastrian, K. (2011). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN: 0763792373, 9780763792374.
Payne, T. H., Lovis, C., Gutteridge, C., Pagliari, C., Natarajan, S., Yong, C., & Zhao, L. P. (2019). Status of health information exchange: a comparison of six countries. Journal of Global Health, 9(2), 0204279. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.09.020427