HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act was introduced to stop the injustices incurred by medical and health insurance institutions regarding patients’ health records. Before the inception of this Act, the entire medical system in United States of America was unregulated and ill-managed. Thankfully, HIPAA has been able to create many positive changes into this.
But there are still many instances of violations in HIPAA and as a patient, you must know what are your rights regarding an apparent violation in this act. But before we come to the violations, you must know the actions which are permitted under this act. HIPPA gives you the right to find out everything about your healthcare and also choose your own doctor. It also improves your accessibility towards group healthcare plans.
Patients are entitled to see and have a copy of their medical records. None of their medical information can be shared without prior notice to them. This act has also empowered people to switch jobs without losing health care. As a result, it became necessary to find a solution that would reduce the cost of administration without compromising with HIPAA and the solution was to computerize the entire medical record system in insurance companies and hospitals.
It must be mentioned that many insurance companies were not in favor of this act, since it caused a lot of financial strain on them. The high level of administrative work required to comply with this act was a major concern for most providers who were not in agreement with HIPPA voiced their displeasure at the privacy requirements; noting that they would put financial strain on providers while they put measures in place to comply. The law originally caused tens of thousands of privacy rule violation complaints.
The electronic system for record keeping has not only made it extremely cost efficient to manage records of patients, but has also been helpful in providing better privacy to the records. Another great advantage of electronic records system is that it allows quick transfer of medical records of a patient from one hospital to another, in case of an emergency. This can be detrimental in saving many lives.
Any individual institution found to be guilty of violating HIPAA, has to pay fine in accordance with the severity of the crime. There have been over 9000 verdicts in civil courts regarding HIPAA violations, ever since it came into force.