How does HIPAA Protect Patient’s Sensitive Information?

Most government acts and laws, the Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA), also seem confusing and unwinding. However, the definition of what HIPAA is and what it does is pretty simple.

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a data security act for healthcare providers and patients. The HIPAA act enabled the protection of patient-sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands. HIPAA ensures that individuals should not be rejected from a job due to a pre-existing health condition. It also ensures that all USA citizens avail a healthcare insurance policy that is HIPAA compliant to avoid fraud.

How HIPAA protects information?

HIPAA protects patient sensitive information by making sure that you choose a professional medical billing services company that is HIPAA compliant. HIPAA rules were implemented by the US Congress and the US president to ensure patient privacy rights. For a medical billing company to be HIPAA compliant, they must meet many strict guidelines, hire an annual HIPAA training and service provider survey, and update their security systems regularly.

How does HIPAA come into action?

Most medical professionals already know when a professional medical alarm is set off. However, if you are not a medical professional, you will most likely not know what the red warning light is. Medical alarms are set when a medical emergency has happened. Suppose patients arrive at the hospital as victims of that particular medical emergency. In that case, this is when a patient’s medical information passes over to a third party, such as medical history, medical reports, credit card processor, or a bank for professional medical billing services. Once this information passes, your health information is no longer private; it becomes a public record.

How is medical information vulnerable?

When setting off an alarm, you will receive several codes, the most common of codes shown as Y/N. If you are reading this article, you will surely know how difficult it can be to change your information, so why do this? For the same reason, people who shop online or use secure servers do not give away any information about themselves. If you are shopping or using secure servers to make payments, you increase the risk of identity theft by almost 100 percent!
There have been cases where a person has had all their medical records sent to their mother. In this situation, the medical records were sent over the Internet without the knowledge or consent of the person who requested them. This is an example of how sensitive information can be lost or misused. The HIPAA laws make it illegal to disclose any personal medical information without the expressed written consent of the patient.

HIPAA and its functionality

So how does HIPAA protect patients’ sensitive information? It does not protect patients, but it does help meet the medical institution from negligence in paying medical bills. Medical institutions that receive payments for medical services from patients have to abide by the Privacy and Security Rule if they want to keep operating. If the medical institutions fail to secure patient information, medical audit companies could reveal this information to the public, causing public shame.

What HIPAA asks of the institution?

The medical institution has to inform patients and provide them with a copy of the Privacy Rule. HIPAA tells you that the institution must abide by the law to protect your medical records. Hospitals and doctor’s offices must also inform their patients about the need to protect their medical records at the time of medical service. It is up to the patient to request this information.

Does HIPAA offer insurance?

HIPAA does not offer a medical insurance plan or a guarantee that your information will never be lost or misused. However, the Privacy Rule does state that the protected data is confidential. If something is personal, you cannot use it against a patient in any way, whether it be monetary or otherwise.

Protection against identity theft

The Privacy Rule states that any personally identifying information must be encrypted or controlled electronically, and the decryption key cannot be published. Additionally, the providers cannot share this information with others. A third party cannot use the patient’s identity to apply for any credit, whether by obtaining it or by providing information to others. Finally, this information cannot be sold or shared in any manner. It is also important to note that this does not apply to confidential medical records.
The role of HIPAA is vital against security concerns regarding the personal information of patients. According to US law, any individual is authorized and allowed to keep their medical information private for any reason whatsoever. HIPAA ensures that this law stays intact and that people keep the right to their healthcare privacy.