In anticipation of Joan filing a lawsuit, Dr. Williams shows Joan's medical records to a friend and asks for advice. His friend tells him to contact his medical malpractice insurance company. Has there been a HIPAA violation? Is Dr Williams liable to prosecution and what sanctions could he face? Understanding HIPAA regulations, federal and state laws and violations, then applying them to Dr. Williams' case provides the answers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 The enactment of HIPAA ensured the portability of health insurance coverage and directed the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to implement the national standard for electronic health transactions. The HIPAA (Standard for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information) privacy rule was adopted when it was determined that the development of technology would soon expose some individually identifiable health information or protected health information (PHI) to a greater risk of disclosure. Oversight and enforcement of privacy laws and the regulation of the use and disclosure of protected health information by covered entities is the responsibility of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the DHHS (Office for Civil Rights, privacy of health information, 2011). Fill in...... half of the paper....... The New England Journal of Medicine 2007;356: 2713-9. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from https://secure.muhealth.org/~ed/students/articles/NEJM_356_p2713.pdf Medical Errors and Patient Safety. (2008). The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website. Retrieved May 31, 2011, from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/psoact.htm.Office for Civil Rights, Health Information Privacy. (2011). Understanding the privacy of health information. US Department of Health and Human Services website. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html.Office for Civil Rights, Privacy Brief. (2003). HIPAA Privacy Policy Summary. US Department of Health and Human Services website. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/privacysummary.pdf.

Topic > In anticipation of Joan filing a lawsuit, Dr. Williams shows Joan's medical records to a friend and asks for advice. His friend tells him to contact his medical malpractice insurance company. Has there been a HIPAA violation? Is Dr Williams liable to prosecution and what sanctions could he face? Understanding HIPAA regulations, federal and state laws and violations, then applying them to Dr. Williams' case provides the answers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 The enactment of HIPAA ensured the portability of health insurance coverage and directed the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to implement the national standard for electronic health transactions. The HIPAA (Standard for the Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information) privacy rule was adopted when it was determined that the development of technology would soon expose some individually identifiable health information or protected health information (PHI) to a greater risk of disclosure. Oversight and enforcement of privacy laws and the regulation of the use and disclosure of protected health information by covered entities is the responsibility of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the DHHS (Office for Civil Rights, privacy of health information, 2011). Fill in...... half of the paper....... The New England Journal of Medicine 2007;356: 2713-9. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from https://secure.muhealth.org/~ed/students/articles/NEJM_356_p2713.pdf Medical Errors and Patient Safety. (2008). The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website. Retrieved May 31, 2011, from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/psoact.htm.Office for Civil Rights, Health Information Privacy. (2011). Understanding the privacy of health information. US Department of Health and Human Services website. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.html.Office for Civil Rights, Privacy Brief. (2003). HIPAA Privacy Policy Summary. US Department of Health and Human Services website. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/privacysummary.pdf.