The health insurance portability and accountability act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in the year 1996. since the bill was signed, we have had 20 years to ensure that we educate yourself about the act. if you end up for letting the act you will be on the wrong side of the law. People who violate this act usually fined a huge amount of money, depending on your mistake. Apart from getting sanctioned if you are a healthcare provider you are at risk of losing your medical license. If you don’t want to be fined or even lose your license make sure that you do everything that you can so that you can take major steps in order to avoid breaking the law.
A HIPPA Violation usually occurs when you or any of your employees breaks one of the regulations that has been stated in the health insurance portability and accountability act. The act is there to ensure that the patients’ privacy is adhered to. It is important for you to know that the regulations are usually straight forward though they are filled with so many legal talks.
You can only access a patient’s health records for the following reasons, treatments, payments, and healthcare operations. It does not matter if the patient is your family member or friend you are not supposed to look at their records. the interesting thing is that this is one of the most common violations that does occur. You are required to keep any protected health information in a secure location, and they should also ensure that you protect all your digital files with passwords and encrypts.
If you are ever in violation of a HIPPA regulation, the courts will take into consideration how you do things in your office. It is important for you to ensure that you let the court know that you are doing all that you can in order to avoid making these mistakes again. When it comes to your data make sure that you protect them using encryption. Encryption has its own sets of benefits, and that is why the law states that all data should be encrypted as this ensures that everything is well secured from thieves and if at any time they are stolen no one can be able to read the data. Consider it an extra layer of protection if your patients’ records are ever stolen, or they get lost. The law also states that all the portable devices in the hospital she will use encryption as this helps in safeguarding PHI.