The Hitech Act The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was signed into law on February 17, 2009. It was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. There were many concerns related to privacy and security in association with the electronic transmission of private health information. Such concerns were addressed in Subtitle D of the HITECH Act. This law serves to strengthen the civil and criminal enforcement of the HIPAA Act through several of its provisions.
On February 18, 2009 section 13410(d) of the HITECH Act took effect. This revised section 1176(a) of the Social Security Act by establishing:
- Four categories of violations, each with increased levels of guilt
- Each category has corresponding penalty amounts. The penalty amount increases significantly with each violation.
- Each violation of an identical nature is subject to a maximum penalty of .5 million.
Section 1176(b) of the Act was also amended by:
- Removing the bar on imposing penalties if the entity in question was unaware and would have remained unaware with the exercise of reasonable diligence ( these violations can now be punished at the lowest level of penalties); and
- Placing a ban on imposing penalties for violations that are corrected within 30 days, provided such violation was not a result of neglect on the part of the entity in question.
There is a lot that goes into protecting an individual's privacy under the HIPAA Privacy requirements. Every entity would be well advised to choose someone to be a privacy officer. This person should oversee the privacy rules that are set and practiced where they are located. The chosen privacy officer should be responsible for training any and all employees on what is considered to be standard protocol as well as any changes made to procedures. The privacy of the individual should be insured by taking several precautions. Keep in mind that there are things that can be done which are as easy as keeping patient charts closed and out of view from other patients. The only information that staff members should be allowed to access is the information they need to do their job. For example, nurses have no need to see the billing information for a patient they are treating, but another employee would need to see the billing information and not their treatment information. To help stay within the guidelines, require passwords to gain access to private information stored on computers and put locks on any cabinets or rooms containing PHI.
The HITECH Act Penalties range from 0 for a single violation to ,500,000 for a year of violations. The punishment is determined based upon the nature of the violation as well as the extent of harm that was caused by the violation in question. If you are one of the entities required to be HIPAA compliant you are subject to the penalties enforced by the Department of Health and Human Services as well as criminal penalties enforced by the Department of Justice.
Find more information about HITECH Act in my website.
Creator/executive producer David Shore shares his favorite one-liner. Actors Hugh Laurie (Dr. Gregory House) and Jesse Spencer (Dr. Robert Chase) discuss the challenges of acting so often with the same people.
Random Post
- Know what Zadroga act is all about?
- What to Look for in Acting Schools in Glasgow
- In-Depth Bible Study Notes for Acts 2:4-13: Some Notes About Speaking in Tongues
- In-Depth Bible Study Notes for Acts 8:26-40
- Acting Classes Provide the Foundation for Great Things
- Plan Before You Act
- Tip for choosing an acting coach in Hollywood
- Few Acting Resume Objectives And Objective Tips For Everyone
- Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Breathes New Life Into Pay Discrimination Claims
- The Mills Act
0 comments:
Post a Comment