HIPAA: Patient Privacy

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The rights of patients to determine when, how, and to what extent their health information is shared with others is referred to as patient privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) are the main federal laws that protect your health information. HIPAA is divided into titles. The first title is Healthcare Access, Portability, and Renewability which gives disabled persons the extended duration of benefits and lets them keep the coverage they had when they were working. The second title is Preventing Medical Healthcare Fraud and Abuse, Administrative Simplification, and Medical Liability Reform, which requires health care providers to avoid fraud and gives methods for electronic records and transactions. …show more content…
All health care providers have a liability to keep their staff trained and knowledgeable concerning HIPAA compliance. HIPAA guidelines apply to the gathering, classifying, and transferring of all patient information. HIPAA guidelines also cover electronic medical records (EMR) and the International Classification of Diseases uniform diagnostic codes issued by the World Health …show more content…
Criminal penalties range from 50,000 and a 1 year sentence for knowingly accessing or obtaining protected information to 250,000 and up to 10 years in prison for planning to sell, transfer, or use protected health information for harmful intentions, commercial advantage, or personal gain. Civil penalties range from 25,000 to 1.5 million per year. However, some crimes cannot be imposed under the circumstances such as if a healthcare professional unwillingly violated the rule and if it was committed under reasonable circumstances. For example, a nurse and a physician discussing patient information in a crowded elevator is a verbal violation of patient