The Technological Feasibility of HIPAA Requirements :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

IntroductionThe health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, is a rightfulness designed to improve portability and continuity of health insurance insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the judicial system of health insurance, and for other purposes.1 HIPAA mandates that covered entities must employ technical means to ensure the privacy of sensitive information. This white paper intends to discover the requirements put forth by HIPAA by examining what is technically necessary for them to be fulfiled, the technological feasibility of this, and what commercial, off-the-shelf systems are currently available to implement these requirements.HIPAA Overview On July 21, 1996, Bill Clinton signed HIPAA into law. It was fited partly because of the failure of congress to pass comprehensive health insurance legislation earlier in the decade. The public goals of HIPAA are to* Increase number of employees who have health insurance* trend health care fraud and abuse* Introduce/implement administrative simplifications in order to augment effectiveness of health care in the US* Protect the health information of individuals against access without consent or authorization* Give patients more rights over their private data* bent grass better boundaries for the use of medical information* Hold people accountable for misuse* Encourage administrative simplification (in the form of digitalization of information) to aid reduce costs. HIPAA affects covered entities which are defined as Health plans Health care clearinghouses Health care providers who transmit health information in electronic form for original standard transactions. Even though HIPAA was singed into law over seven years ago, its effects are mostly being felt now. This is because of its schedule of compliance* 10/16/2002 - Transactions and compute sets* 4/14/2003 Privacy Rule* 4/14/2003 craft Associates* 4/20/2005 Security RuleThis delay stems from a homework in the original act stating that if Congress did not specify certain regulations by the end of 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had to do it. Congress did not meet its deadline, so HHS had to write up the regulations and form companies a chance to implement them.