HIPAA rules and regulations not only protect you, but your patients as well.
Having these standards in place helps to maintain the security of personal information for all. With that in mind, many health care organizations also know that these rules can actually hinder patient care.
All the HIPAA rules and regulation scan end up creating barriers that prevent the effective sharing of information between health care providers. So, the security of patient information may come at the cost of customer care. Many of the issues result from health care organizations that lack an adequate understanding of the different restrictions in HIPAA and the circumstances where exceptions are allowed; the required versus addressable standards. It’s important for organizations to really know the HIPAA rules because there are instances where certain patient permissions are not required before a disclosure.
For example, HIPAA allows for health care providers to share a patient’s ePHI with other health care organizations to allow for treatment or to facilitate other operations. The issues arise because there is much confusion about what exactly constitutes as treatment in certain instances.
To address this issue, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has submitted a Request for Information (RFI) to begin the process of investigating how the HIPAA rules may currently hinder the sharing of patient information, which makes it difficult for health care providers to coordinate patient’s care. It will be interesting to see if this RFI leads to a proposal and then a change in the HIPAA rules.
While HIPAA can be seen as a barrier to the flow of information, it is put in place to protect patients and their best interests. These rules also help health care providers to protect themselves from cyber attacks and other privacy issues that can lead to business-ending fines.
Join HIPAAgps today to help your organization better understand all of the circumstances and restrictions in the HIPAA regulations.
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