Ode to a Nightingale
The latest buzzword among healthcare organizations is HIPAA. What is HIPAA and what is its affect on healthcare, as we know it today? This paper discusses, in detail, how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is changing healthcare. It will focus specifically on changes within information technology by using Gundersen Lutheran Hospital to apply various concepts throughout the paper. One main article served as the guide, Information Technology and HIPAA, published by the State of Connecticut. Due to the large number of organizations that interface with and the sensitivity of healthcare data, the healthcare environment has been said to be one of the most complex organizations when it comes to information technology (IT). Hospitals work with insurance companies, social service organizations, other health care entities, product vendors, and all the way down to the individual. Because of the vast number of transactions between groups, it is paramount that an efficient, organized and confidential IT system is in place. The absence of such a system could have serious legal consequences. Provisions within the HIPAA regulations guide these organizations in an effort to take advantage of the new possibilities afforded by IT while ensuring the protection of personally identifiable health information. At the same time, HIPAA will assist in reducing administrative costs and ensuring information patient confidentiality. The article creates a timeline that traces the evolution of technology within the healthcare setting; from the 1960’s with each healthcare facility typically maintaining its own large mainframe computer that primarily performed financial and admitting functions through the 1990’s with brought significant change to the use and need for IT. (State of Connecticut 2003) This only emphasizes that Hospitals have always been industry leaders when it comes to emerging technologies. With leadership comes and increased level of difficulty in maintaining IT systems. Furthermore, this need for advanced IT systems causes costs to rise in an environment where costs are already a challenge. Yet another obstacle for healthcare organizations is the ability to maintain human resources to support the IT systems. “From a 1997 survey conduct by Hersher Associates found that recruitment and retention of personnel was one of the CIO’s greatest concerns. It is common to find organizations that have over 20% vacancy rates in IT positions and many of the current staff does not have the knowledge to support the newer technologies.” (State of Connecticut 2003) The remainder of the article is of greater importance to this topic because it relates directly with data privacy and security. The article defines privacy and security as the methods an organization must take in order protect their information from internal and external threats. Consumers or patients view Privacy as how his/her information is being used and disclosed. Just as the article does, this paper will provide an outline of HIPAA, including information on the purpose, security and privacy, compliance, financial issues and human resource challenges. We supplement the articles’ discussions with a variety of other materials, including but not limited to, our case study of Gundersen Lutheran. We will first evaluate the relationship of the issues being discussed to the course content. Secondly, we will examine our related material from external sources. Third, we will review ethical issues related to privacy and security.