InstructionsRespond with two peers with a 300-word post in APA (2020) format. Analyze the post by
researching peer-reviewed journal articles to support your position that agree or disagree with
your classmate and explain why or why not). Utilize metacognition and provide at
least two peer-reviewed journal articles relative to informatics to support your rationale.
Student Post 1(Teona)
Importance of HIPAA & Privacy Rules
Introduction
Both privacy regulations and ethical health research have significant positive effects on society.
In order to improve both human health and healthcare, health research is essential. Research that
is ethical must safeguard research participants’ rights and prevent harm to them. It is crucial to
emphasize that privacy is valuable to society as a whole because it enables complex endeavors
like research and public health initiatives to be carried out in ways that uphold people’s dignity.
However, there are times when health research can help people directly, for instance, by making
new discoveries easier to obtain. The most private and sensitive personal data is health-related.
According to Kulynych and Korn (2002), inappropriate disclosure or misuse of it might result in
major consequences like stigmatization, discrimination, loss of insurance, or employment.
(Liginlal et al., 2012).
Documentation and Compliance
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s provisions for availability,
confidentiality, and integrity serve as guidelines for EHR applications. Additionally, the Office
of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s accreditation standards for
electronic health record usability. An approach called compliance checking looks for evidence of
whether an EHR application that has been implemented satisfies security and privacy
requirements (Liginlal et al., 2012). Security standards provide different software protections for
the privacy of health information. The most effective and widely used method for maintaining
the confidentiality of information is encryption. It may render the PHI unintelligible while being
sent and stored. Therefore, encryption is a good method to protect electronic PHI and stop
disclosure without the proper authority (Wei-Bin Lee & Chien-Ding Lee, 2008).
Safeguards and Mechanisms
There are 16 addressable safeguards and 19 mandatory safeguards in the Security Rule.
If a covered entity determines after doing its risk analysis that an addressable precaution is
reasonable, acceptable, and applicable, then the safeguard shall be put into place. Some of those
safeguards include; Putting procedures in place to decide if a staff member’s access to patient
information is appropriate, putting procedures in place to stop a staff member’s access to patient
information when their employment expires, putting policies in place to prevent and identify
dangerous software, putting procedures in place for routine testing and updating backup plans,
establishing protocols for password creation, modification, and security (Taylor & Francis,
2014).
Continuous Improvement
Both privacy protections and ethical health records are very beneficial to society. In order to
improve both human health and healthcare, health research is essential. Conducting research in
an ethical manner requires safeguarding the rights of participants and keeping them safe from
harm. It is crucial for ongoing advancement in this area since the main rationale behind the
collection of personally identifiable health information is to benefit society. For organization to
continue to improve in protecting patient privacy they will need to ensure some standards are
followed, including, but not limited to; require researchers to set up robust data security
safeguards, allow for wider use of data with direct identifiers, mandate ethical monitoring of
research, and clearly distinguish between the privacy considerations that apply to informationbased research and other types of study. These policies should be goal-oriented and unambiguous
(Nass et al., 2009).
Conclusion
Potentially, the most private and sensitive personal data is health-related. According to Kulynych
and Korn (2002), inappropriate disclosure or misuse of it might result in major consequences like
stigmatization, discrimination, loss of insurance, or employment. (Liginlal et al., 2012).
Electronic health records are being used more frequently to enhance the quality of healthcare by
providing easy access to patient medication and clinic visit records, more straightforward patient
treatment plan follow-up, and more accurate medical decision-making.
References
Liginlal, D., Sim, I., Khansa, L., & Paul Fearn. (2012). HIPAA Privacy Rule Compliance: An
interpretive study using Norman’s action theory. Computers & Security, 31(2), 206–220.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2011.12.002
Nass, S. J., Levit, L. A., & Gostin, L. O. (2009). Beyond the HIPAA privacy rule: Enhancing
privacy, improving health through research. National Academies Press.
Taylor, & Francis. (2014). Regulatory compliance/HIPAA safeguards. Journal of the California
Dental Association, 42(12), 875–876. https://doi.org/10.1080/19424396.2014.12221455
Wei-Bin Lee, & Chien-Ding Lee. (2008). A cryptographic key management solution for HIPAA
Privacy/Security Regulations. IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in
Biomedicine, 12(1), 34–41. https://doi.org/10.1109/titb.2007.906101
Student Post 2 (Jaylen)
Enhancing Healthcare: The Synergy of HIPAA and PHI
Within HIPAA and PHI it is crucial to start with a solid understanding of the safeguards and
mechanisms in place for privacy training. This training is designed to protect sensitive patient
information and is supported by comprehensive documentation and compliance strategies to
ensure that healthcare organizations meet legal standards. But it doesn’t stop there; continuous
improvement in these training programs is vital. It ensures that as technology and regulations
evolve, so too does the ability of healthcare staff to safeguard PHI effectively, ultimately
enhancing patient trust and care quality.
Safeguards and mechanisms:
HIPAA requires that healthcare organizations implement various safeguards and mechanisms to
protect patient privacy, especially when it comes to Protected Health Information (PHI). This
involves a combination of physical, administrative, and technical safeguards. Physical safeguards
might include secure locations for data storage and strict control over access to PHI (Theodos,
Sittig, 2020). Administrative safeguards involve policies and procedures designed to clearly
outline how PHI is handled and who has access to it, as well as regular privacy training for all
employees to ensure they understand their responsibilities under HIPAA (Colean, Seah, 2005).
Technical safeguards refer to the use of encryption, secure access controls, and other technologybased tools to protect electronic PHI from unauthorized access or breaches. All these measures
work together to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of patient data and ensure compliance
with HIPAA regulations.
Documentation and compliance:
Documentation and compliance are key components of HIPAA’s privacy training requirements.
Healthcare organizations must meticulously document all their privacy policies and procedures,
including those related to the handling of Protected Health Information (PHI). They must also
maintain records of privacy training sessions, detailing when they were held, the content
covered, and which employees attended (Theodos, Sittig, 2020). This documentation is critical
not only for internal compliance checks but also for demonstrating adherence to HIPAA
regulations in case of audits. Compliance efforts include regular reviews and updates of privacy
practices to keep pace with changes in laws and technologies, as well as ongoing training to
ensure that all staff members are aware of their obligations in protecting patient
privacy (Vanderpool, 2019). Keeping thorough records and staying compliant with HIPAA
training requirements help create a culture of privacy and security within healthcare
organizations.
Continuous Improvement:
Continuous improvement in HIPAA privacy training is all about staying ahead of the game. It
means regularly updating training materials to reflect the latest regulations and emerging threats
to PHI. Healthcare organizations should assess their training programs periodically to make sure
they’re effective and engaging. This could involve gathering feedback from staff, monitoring
compliance rates, and analyzing any privacy incidents to identify gaps in knowledge (Theodos,
Sittig, 2020). By doing so, they can adjust their training to focus on areas that need more
attention. Plus, incorporating new learning methods, like interactive modules or real-life
scenarios, can help keep the training fresh and relevant (Vanderpool, 2019). It’s all about
building a robust culture of privacy that evolves with the times and keeps patient data safe.
In conclusion, HIPAA regulations and PHI protection are integral to healthcare, with electronic
billing being a key area where privacy and security must be rigorously maintained. Safeguards
and mechanisms for privacy training are essential to ensure staff understand how to handle PHI
correctly, with documentation and compliance being the backbone of any robust privacy
program (Vanderpool, 2019). Continuous improvement is the thread that ties it all together,
ensuring that privacy training stays current and effective against the backdrop of an everevolving healthcare landscape (Colean, Seah, 2005). By focusing on these areas, healthcare
organizations can foster a culture of privacy that upholds the highest standards of patient data
protection. It also important to continue to emphasize the critical role of technology in
streamlining these different processes. Advanced software will enhance data accuracy and also
fortifiy the privacy training framework ensuring that healthcare providers stay at the forefront of
protecting patients data.
References
Coleman, T. S., & Seah, K. C. (2005). The HIPAA Security Regulations. Journal of Oncology
Practice, 1(2), 47. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793585/
Theodos, K., & Sittig, S. (2020). Health Information Privacy Laws in the Digital Age: HIPAA
Doesn’t Apply. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 18(Winter).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7883355/
Vanderpool, D. (2019). HIPAA COMPLIANCE: A Common Sense Approach. Innovations in
Clinical Neuroscience, 16(1-2), 38–41.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6450678/
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