HIPAA Effects

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) can be difficult for some families. While it does give the family rights over their healthcare and information, it can end up costing families more money than the hassle is worth. The main areas of HIPAA are: Administrative (privacy), Physical Security (code sets), and Technical Security (security).

Administrative is there to guarantee that the family’s data is accessible to certain parties as well as correct. One way the family can ensure this is accurate is make sure it’s in a written form. Physical Security exists to try to help that no physical item or device with PHI can be stolen. Technical Security does its’ best to protect devices and networks from breaches of any kind, especially data breaches.

There are also some heavy fines if something goes wrong or a family violates HIPAA’s rules. For penalties on a civil level, fines can be anywhere form $100/incident to $25,000/calendar year. If their violation is a on a criminal level, jail time could be included. Anywhere from 1 to 10 years in jail as well as fines ranging from $50K to $250K. HIPAA violations could also result in either a loss of job or a civil suit without limits.

We need to be aware of what stressors are in a family’s life. Knowing what our families are struggling with can help us know how best to help them and proceed. If a family is worried about one of the areas of HIPAA failing, we need to do what we can to work with them and around their stressors.

If the family is concerned that they might’ve violated a HIPAA rule, depending on the level of severity could influence the result. The more we get to know a family, the more we’ll understand them and know where we can step in to help and where we should back up.