Health Medical Homework Help

Regulatory Environment: HIPAA and Data Privacy Laws

Objectives:

1. Describe a      business associate agreement (BAA) and its relationship with vendor      management.
2. Describe      the safeguards and gaps prevalent in securing inpatient data through      HIPAA.

Resources

• Read “What Are the Duties of a HIPAA Compliance Officer?” located on the HIPAA Journal website.
• Read “Covered Entities and Business Associates,” located on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website (2017).
• Read “What Is HIPAA Certification?” located on the HIPAA Journal website.
• Review Chapter 1 and Read Chapter 3 in Healthcare Information Security and Privacy.
• Read “Case Study Comparison: HIPAA Data Breaches and PHI on Stolen Laptops,” located on the NORCAL Group website (2018).
• Read “Toward Proper Authentication Methods in Electronic Medical Record Access Compliant to HIPAA and C.I.A. Triangle,” by Tipton, Forkey, and Choi, from Journal of Medical Systems (2016).
• Read “What Is a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?” by Snell, located on the Health IT Security website.

https://www.hipaajournal.com/duties-of-a-hipaa-compliance-officer/ 

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/index.html 

https://www.hipaajournal.com/what-is-hipaa-certification/ 

https://www.norcal-group.com/library/case-study-comparison-hipaa-data-breaches-and-phi-on-stolen-laptops 

https://healthitsecurity.com/features/what-is-a-hipaa-business-associate-agreement-baa 

Discussions

Discussion 1

Explain the responsibilities a health care clearinghouse has in the protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI). How does a heath care clearinghouse’s responsibilities differ from a health care provider’s?

Discussion 2

Although no organization can certify that a health care business is HIPAA compliant, there are steps that an organization can take to ascertain its compliance with HIPAA regulations. Despite the fact that no organization can certify that a health care business is HIPAA compliant, the United States legislation established a regulation to safeguard medical information. How does the United States enforce the HIPAA regulation or identify if an organization is implementing the HIPAA security and privacy rules?

Assignment

Case Study: HIPPA

Assessment Description

The purpose of this assignment is to examine a case study and identify and describe the safeguards and gaps prevalent in securing inpatient data. After reading “Case Study Comparison: HIPAA Data Breaches and PHI on Stolen Laptops,” located in the resources, review the following case study and answer the questions that follow.

Health Care Inc., a health care consulting company, was engaged to perform a MS-DRG validation audit of 100 Medicare inpatient claims for ABC Hospital. The inpatient cases to be reviewed were selected by ABC Hospital’s Coding Manager. The Health Care Inc. auditors were provided VPN access to the hospital’s EHR to review the documentation of the selected inpatient cases to validate MS-DRG assignment. The Consulting Manager with Health Care Inc., who is responsible for performing the quality review of the work of team, decided to download the inpatient cases included in the review to a company issued laptop in order to perform the quality review while traveling to another client site. In the course of travel, the laptop was left in the back seat of a rental car while the consulting team stopped to have dinner. When the team returned from dinner, it was discovered that the rental car had been burglarized, and the laptop was stolen. This is the first time that patient data from ABC Hospital has been compromised. However, this is the 3rd time in 11 months that a laptop from Health Care Inc. has been stolen and contained patient data.

Analyze the case study to identify the inefficiencies associated with inpatient record management. In a 600-750 word essay, answer the following reflection questions based on the case study:

1. Who is      liable for the loss of inpatient cases (Health Care Inc. or ABC Hospital)?      Explain.
2. What are      three activities that demonstrate inefficient management of inpatient cases      in the case study?
3. What are      your suggestions for what can be done to inpatient case data and the      management process to reduce the overall impact of loss from future      audits?
4. Has a HIPAA      breach occurred? If a breach has occurred, explain what specific evidence      from the case study supports your answer.
5. If a breach      has occurred, explain the next steps to be taken by ABC Hospital.