Introduction
The HIPAA privacy rule is an Act meant to protect individuals’ health and personal information (Armstrong et al., 2015). The initials stand for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability, which is an Act of 1966 (Annas, 2013). The primary goal of these rules is to make sure that an individual’s health information is well-protected and allows a smooth flow of information needed to promote quality healthcare.
Question one
The identifiers to individually identifiable information include a person’s demographic data, which includes: their lifetime medical reports on health, provision of healthcare, and also their history and present status on payment for medical services (Annas, 2013). This is a reasonable basis used to identify an individual. The information includes an individual’s name, address, social security number, and birthdate.
Question two
Permitted disclosures include a group of persons to whom confidential information can be disclosed. The categories consist: employees, officers, and affiliates. The potential of disclosure increases with an increase in the list of disclosures (Armstrong et al., 2015). However, one must meet certain requirements to qualify for a person’s exposure; these conditions include the ability to execute the agreement on confidentiality and liability for any disclosure by any person to whom eth information is disclosed (Tovino, 2016).
Question 3
Safeguards such as shredding documents that contain protected health information before discarding them and securing medical records with a password or a lock and essential help enforce the privacy rule and protect an individual’s personal health information (Tovino, 2016). Many healthcare providers have made it their responsibility to ensure reasonable safeguards are put in place to protect patients’ health information (Win, 2013). Such safeguards include speaking silently when talking about a person’s condition with members of their family.
Question 4
In our organisation, every employee’s personal information is kept in password-protected databases found in the human resource manager’s computer. This information is closely guarded, and the management must authorise any individual who is allowed to have access to it.
Question 5
Account information may include PayPal accounts, social media accounts, nd bank accounts (Annas, 2013). Such accounts contain personal information, which, if leaked to the public, may damage a person’s social or economic life. For instance, when a person’s bank account details are exposed, their saving might be stolen, thus directly affecting their lives (Winn, 2013). Additionally, it is imperative to protect this kind of information since its exposure causes disastrous consequences. A fellow employee’s office identification card was once stolen, and the thief gained unauthorised access to their office and manipulated some data, thus sabotaging the sales information. This incident nearly got him fired since everyone thought he was the one responsible for data manipulation.
Question 6
An identity thief caught hold of Ann’s Social Security number. She assumed her real name and used it to steal property from a local businessperson. Immediately, the police began investigations into the incident; they started looking for Ann. After finding her, she complained that her identity number had been stolen in the previous week, and luckily, she had reported it to the local police station. Thus, the police managed to catch the real impersonator and gave the social security number back to the real Ann.
References
Armstrong, D., Kline-Rogers, E., Jani, S.M., Goldman, E.B., Fang, J., Mukherjee, D., Nallamothu, B.K., and Eagle, K.A., 2015. The potential impact of the HIPAA privacy rule on data collection in a registry of patients with acute coronary syndrome. Archives of Internal Medicine, 165(10), pp.1125-1129.
Annas, G.J., 2013. HIPAA regulations new era of medical-record privacy?. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(15), pp.1486-1490.
Tovino, S.A., 2016. Complying with the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Problems and Perspectives.
Winn, P.A., 2013. Confidentiality in cyberspace: the HIPAA privacy rules and the common law. Rutgers LJ, 33, p.617.
