Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1996

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1996
Before attempting to answer the questions relating to Dr. Williams conduct, it is important to introduce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act on which this assignment is based. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was legally established and adopted by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with the aim to facilitate standard health care related electronic transactions as well as ensuring insurance for employees after they leave their employers, (Krager & Krager 2008: 1). A key provision of HIPAA is the Privacy Rule which sets privacy standards for individually identifiable health information; also known as protected health information (PHI), (Krager & Krager 2008: 20-26). This essay will briefly highlight on provisions of HIPAA and apply them to establish that Dr. William violated the provisions of this Act. Possible penalties for Dr. William`s infringement of the Act will be outlined at the end of this essay.
The HIPAA privacy rule aims at the protection of any personally identifiable health information from unauthorized disclosure. The individually identifiable health information includes; information regarding health care claims, documented doctor`s visits, health plan eligibility, referral certifications and authorization, health care claims and benefits and health care status among other personal information. The HIPAA privacy rule applies to entities such as health care providers who transmit health information in electronic form, health plans ( health insurance payers) and also to health care clearing houses both in the public and private sectors. This means that individuals including the directors, employees, or officers of the covered entity, where the covered entity is not an individual, may also be directly criminally liable under HIPAA in accordance with principles of corporate criminal liability, (Tan 2009: 129).
The covered entities therefore have a duty to adopt written privacy procedures for protected health information (PHI) and must alongside designating a privacy officer, also coordinate their staff and associates in business to adhere to PHI requirements. The covered entities also have a duty to provide to their cli...