3 Major Things Addressed In The HIPAA Law

Posted in HIPAA

Executive Summary – Major Things Addressed In The HIPAA Law

This article is a great resource for understanding what HIPAA compliance entails and what it stands for because it thoroughly explains the essential requirements of HIPAA rules in healthcare. It also goes into great detail on why you must abide by its laws and regulations, the key components of its authorization, and other matters besides the 3 major things addressed in the HIPAA law.

Overview – Major Things Addressed In The HIPAA Law

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in healthcare investment. According to the stats, around $9.2 billion and $14.2 billion were invested in the US, domestically and globally, respectively. That being said, there has been increasing demand for vaccine distribution, mental health services, and personalized care. Since the traditional healthcare system has been overwhelmed by the massive demand for healthcare services, telemedicine is increasingly used to complement healthcare systems around the world. However, while telemedicine has come out as a great savior for the healthcare system, the increasing use of the technology has resulted in a higher influx of cybersecurity attacks in the healthcare industry.

According to HIPAA Journal, cybersecurity attacks have grown by 45% globally (by March). For this purpose, IT professionals are under pressure to limit the attacks and enhance threat detection, hence the need for compliance with HIPAA security rules. So, let us walk you through three major components addressed in HIPAA law!

Why Need To Comply With The HIPAA Security Rule?

The healthcare providers and additional entities are dealing with PHI, computerized operations, CPOE, EHR, laboratory systems, radiology, and pharmacy systems, which has increased the need for HIPAA compliance. For this reason, health plans are providing access to self-service applications and care management apps for improving mobility and efficiency. On the contrary, security systems are being put in place for improving the privacy protection of healthcare information.

The security systems also improve the efficiency and quality of patient care. When it comes down to the design of The Security Rule, it’s flexible enough for the implementation of different technologies, policies, and procedures. The best thing about this rule is that it can implement the technologies and policies according to the patient’s risk, the structure of the organization, and the e-PHI of the consumers.

What are the 3 Common HIPAA Violations?

What Are The Three Components Of HIPAA Security Rule Compliance?

HIPAA security rule compliance covers administrative, technical, and physical security. Collectively, HIPAA ensures the integrity and confidentiality of the ePHI that are created and received. In addition, it required the healthcare providers to protect the information against security threats and prevent the disclosure of patient information. However, HIPAA’s three aspects of security are explained in detail below.

1st Key Element of HIPAA Law: Administrative Requirements

The administrative requirements will ensure that patient information and data are accessible and correct. The administrative requirements of HIPAA law demand that users formalize the privacy processes in the written document. Other aspects of the administrative requirements include the following;

• Allocating the personnel or a staff member for overseeing HIPAA compliance and data security
• Identification of employees who will have access to patient information and data
• Training the employees regarding privacy policy and the implementation of this policy
• Requiring third-party members to sign contracts for compliance with HIPAA security rule
• Backing up the data and creating the emergency plan
• Performing the annual security assessment of data
• Creating the response plan for data breaches

2nd Key Elements of HIPAA Law: Physical Security Requirements

The physical security requirements allow healthcare organizations to prevent device loss and physical theft (particularly for patient information). The physical security requirements of HIPAA Law include the following;

• Limiting the access to computers for securing the desks and for keeping information safe from the general public
• Restricting the access to secure areas and demanding proper sign-in for visitors
• Practicing caution and following the best security practices for disposing of the software and hardware. It also includes the hard drive wiping
• Training the contractors and employees on safety practices

3rd Key Element of HIPAA Law: Technical Security Requirements

Different aspects of technical security requirements and creating a medical app, are as follows: are for protecting the devices and networks from data breaches. Different aspects of technical security requirements include the following;

• Encrypting the sensitive files and ensuring that cloud-based platforms are using encryption
• Protecting the healthcare network from hackers with prevention systems and firewalls
• Training the employees for avoiding phishing scams after proper identification
• Backing up the data in case of changes and deletion
• Authenticating data transfers to third parties by demanding a password
• Requiring employees to change the passwords on a regular basis and the passwords must be a combination of characters, numbers, and letters
• Preventing mistakes in data entry through double-keying and redundancy technologies
• Ensuring documentation updates on networks and technologies

What are the three primary parts of HIPAA authorization?

The primary function of HIPAA authorization and the three parts of HIPAA is to improve patient security and safety. HIPAA’s privacy rule is basically a federal law that requires healthcare facilities to protect patient health data and ensure that the information isn’t disclosed without the knowledge or consent of the patients. As far as the 3 parts of HIPAA are concerned, they are as follows;

• Administrative Security – This is the first component of three parts of HIPAA, and it controls the security personnel, security management, and information access management, evaluation of security systems, and management and training of the workforce
• Physical Security – The physical security component controls the facility’s control and access and is about restricting access to patients or their data. In addition, workstation and device security are also covered in physical security, which puts restrictions on the physical devices and administers the disposal of these devices.
• Technical Security – This component covers the audit controls, integrity controls, access controls, and transmission security to ensure every technical component is safe from threats and breaching

What is the difference between hl7 and HIPAA compliance?

HL7 is generally used for electronic health record solutions, and it is a combination of international standards. These standards are used for providing information regarding data sharing and transferring between different healthcare providers. On the other hand, HIPAA is a federal law that’s designed to protect the sensitive and confidential information of the patients and ensure that it doesn’t get disclosed unless patients are made aware of it if they provide consent.

What are the 3 main purposes of HIPAA?

The important three rules of HIPAA Privacy set limitations on when, with whom, and under what conditions protected health information might be exchanged, as well as on the permitted uses and disclosures of such information. Giving patients on-demand access to their health data was a key objective of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The major goals of the HIPAA Security Rule are to make sure that PHI activity is tracked and that electronic health data is suitably protected and managed in terms of access.

Summarizing to explain the three areas of HIPAA compliance

• To increase productivity in the healthcare sector.
• To increase health insurance portability.
• To safeguard the privacy of patients and health plan participants and alert patients about data breaches.

Which of the following is one of the three primary parts of HIPAA?

A significant piece of legislation that has an impact on the healthcare sector is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. It was first introduced in 1996 and created to assist workers with obtaining health insurance coverage between employment. 

Among the three primary parts of HIPAA, it also requires healthcare businesses to have safeguards in place to protect patient data against healthcare fraud. However, regulations changed over time and finally became more concerned with safeguarding patient data privacy. HIPAA is best recognized today for safeguarding the confidentiality of patient data through the proper application of the required security criteria specified in the law. Implementing the HIPAA Security Rules, Privacy Rules, Breach Notification Rules, and Omnibus Rules would fall under this category.

Limiting access, limiting disclosure, protecting Patient Health Information (PHI), and notifying the appropriate authorities and anyone impacted by a data breach were the three phases of HIPAA compliance process. The major purpose of this is to guarantee that data, both in physical and electronic form, is properly protected, regulated, and that an auditable trail of PHI activity is kept. HIPAA’s main goal is to increase the effectiveness, security, and privacy of PHI data in the healthcare sector.

How To Protect Patient Data With Cyber Liability Insurance?

Cyber liability insurance covers individuals at federal and state levels for third-party liabilities. It focuses on penalties and ensures that they are legally obligated. It focuses on covering the defense costs that arise from data and security breaches with personal information. The policy covers reasonable costs for notifying the affected organizations and individuals.

This is a great insurance policy for social workers since it provides an extensive range of coverage the data security and privacy legislation. That being said, healthcare professionals need insurance coverage for data and information breaching. In particular, state and federal governments demand healthcare professionals have this insurance in case of hacks and breaching.

HIPAA Privacy Rule Fact Sheet 2023

The Privacy Rule’s primary objective is to ensure that each patient’s health information is appropriately safeguarded while enabling the flow of health information required to deliver high-quality healthcare and to safeguard the health and well-being of the general population.

Here are the patient privacy rules of HIPAA applies to;

• Healthcare Professionals

No matter the size, any healthcare provider electronically communicates health information, such as benefit eligibility, insurance claims, requests, referrals and authorizations, or other activities. All “providers of service” are considered “health care providers.”

• Business Partners

Persons can have access to any protected health information, as well as individuals or organizations whose duties or services entail the use or disclosure of protected health information. When a covered business or hybrid entity hires an employee to undertake services or activities that might include the use or access to personally identifiable information, the Privacy Rule mandates the execution of a “Business Associate Agreement.”

• Health Care Plans

Consisting of multi-employer health plans, government- and church-sponsored health plans, and employer-sponsored health plans

• Adaptive Entities

An organization that performs both HIPAA-covered and non-covered services is referred to as a “hybrid entity.”   The organization’s HIPAA-covered operations are sometimes referred to as its “health care components.”

Summary Of The HIPAA Privacy Rule

Society has become reliant on medical information for performing basic functions and making individual-based decisions. However, some cyber developments have threatened the security of healthcare information and have become a concerning point.

• Medical Privacy Laws

Healthcare information is managed by a different state, local, and federal statutes and case laws. However, before the HIPAA privacy rule, the federal rules didn’t address the security of information that’s maintained and collected by different healthcare entities. There was no comprehensive federal law that could protect the confidentiality of patient records. In addition, there was a lack of uniformity in healthcare information confidentiality.

That being said, there was a variation in medical record laws in different states. These variations became critical in the disclosure, maintenance, and collection of healthcare information while it’s transmitted through digital platforms. For this purpose, the privacy rule HIPAA provides more stringent and uniform state laws.

• HIPAA

Fast forward to HIPAA Compliant Healthcare Solutions, different medical records confidentiality bills were launched in the last ten years. These bills were aimed at improving the portability of health insurance coverage. In particular, section 262 direct the HHS to standardize the electronic information exchange. It also develops the standards for implicating information security. Secondly, section 264 demanded HHS to answer to congress on standards with privacy rights.

• The December 2000 Privacy Rule

This was the final privacy regulation that was published on 28th December 2000. However, it was first made effective on 26th February 2001 but was changed to 14th April 2001. The rule enforcement was initiated in 2003 but some small health plans waited till 2004 for implementing the laws. However, this medical privacy rule prohibited the entities from disclosing the protected information and data related to healthcare to third parties. Still, there was an exception to release the information if there is a disclosure permitted.

• The August 2002 Privacy Rule

The privacy rule was reopened by the Bush administration where various points were targeted for clarity purposes. To name a few, these points included the use for treatment, payment, treatment disclosure, authorization and consent of procedures, healthcare operations, parental access to the health information of minors, privacy practices for notices, and oral communication. After this, the Bush administration proposed the modification in March 2002.

FAQs

What are the 3 rules of HIPAA?

Three guidelines are set forth by the HIPAA to safeguard patient health information, namely:

• Privacy Regulation 
• Security Regulation
• Rule requiring breach notification

When these three guidelines are followed, a national standard is created, and these guidelines and privacy procedures handle health information that might be used to identify a person.

what is the key to HIPAA compliance?

HIPAA mandates that protections be put in place to preserve the privacy, accuracy, and availability of PHI. Administrative, physical, and technical safeguards need to be put into place.

The Most Common HIPAA Violations You Should Be Aware Of?

The common HIPAA violations that healthcare organizations should be aware of include the following;

• Keeping the records without security
• Data without encryption
• Hacking
• Device loss and thefts
• Lack of training for employees
• Sharing of PHI
• Improper record disposal
• Unauthorized information release

What is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act?

This is the federal law that demands the development of national standards for protecting the patient’s healthcare information. It also ensures the prevention of information disclosure if there is no consent by the patients.

List four areas of HIPAA that are important to patients.

When it comes down to HIPAA, four areas are extremely important to patients, such as the security of health information, the privacy of health data, the right to collect copies of healthcare data, and notification about medical record breaching.

What is the prime function of HL7 standards?

HL7 standards were designed to allow advanced tool integration for transferring critical healthcare data and information. This integration is highly likely to improve the efficiency of healthcare facilities while reducing the chances of errors.

Is the HL7 system designed with tech standards?

Yes, the HL7 system can support technological advancements in healthcare. For this reason, multiple hospitals have started using open-source HL7 integration engines.

Are HL7 standards compliant with HIPAA law?

It is up to the healthcare providers to ensure that HL7 standards are implemented according to HIPAA laws. If the HL7 standards are applied according to HIPAA law, the workflow at hospitals will be streamlined, and the EHRs will show improved performance.

Is HL7 futuristic?

Yes, HL7 will have a prominent role in the future healthcare system. In particular, it will be widely used in healthcare integration systems.

What is the cost of telemedicine equipment?

The cost of telemedicine equipment varies from clinic to clinic. It can be $10,000 or higher for on-sight equipment. Or the cost can be a few hundred dollars per month per user.

While you are considering the costs, make sure to ask your vendor if the medical device UX design will be added to the costs. Keep in mind that UX design will directly influence the functionality and effectiveness of telemedicine.

what are the three rules of HIPAA used?

The three rules of HIPAA are basically three components of the security rule. HIPAA 3 rules are designed to keep patient information safe, and they required healthcare organizations to implement best healthcare practices. The components of the 3 HIPAA rules include technical security, administrative security, and physical security. These rules can enhance the efficiency of the healthcare system, improve the portability of healthcare insurance, and ensure the safety of patient information.

 What is HIPAA internet of things in healthcare?

HIPAA is basically a federal law that helps protect the patient’s data and ensure it’s not disclosed without their consent and knowledge. As far as IoT is concerned, HIPAA applies to that as well, which means healthcare facilities need to identify the vulnerabilities in their IoT systems and choose the right devices. In addition, the changes in devices should be communicated to end-users.

 IoMT firewall rules for HIPAA applications?

When it comes down to HIPAA firewall rules, they do apply to the IoMT systems and devices. These firewall rules and controls are essential for maintaining the healthcare organization’s security and compliance with HIPAA. In addition, if these firewall controls aren’t implemented properly, you will be charged with HIPAA fines.

What are the components of HIPAA privacy rules for deceased patients?

If we look at the components of the HIPAA privacy rule, it requires healthcare providers to keep the personal health information of the deceased patient for fifty years after their death.

About the Author