Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

There are people all over the United States who are required to share their personal information with physicians and other medical professionals. Fortunately the health care environment guarantees patient confidentiality for all of their sensitive and health-related information. There are several acts that the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have developed in order to ensure all patients are given the proper medical confidentially that they deserve. One specific act is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).This act required HHS to develop regulations that would protect the privacy and security of certain health information. In the end two separate rules were published: Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information and The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information. HIPAA is an important aspect of health care especially-when it comes to the safety of all patients (Andrews, 2010). Due to the strict privacy and security acts of this program, the consequences are extremely severe.One of the more important rules of HIPAA is the privacy rule, which â€Å"establishes national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information† (Summary of The HIPAA Privacy Rule 2003). This aspect also applies to several health plans, health care clearinghouses, and other health care providers that perform electronic health care transactions. Due to the privacy rule, without proper patient authorization there are serious limits and safeguards that prevent anyone from sharing a patient’s medical information.Another crucial part of this rule is the fact that patients have the legal right to review and examine their health records, as well the authority to request any corrections they see necessary to repair. This becomes important when a patient finds incorrect information on their file that any of the medica l staff failed to recognize such as birthdate or a blood type. Having a patient review their file is a common way that mistakes are corrected. In order to protect and enforce the privacy of patient medical records, there are several comprehensive programs that are required through clinical information systems.There are three main clinical systems that were created to protect a patient’s privacy of their medical records. The first system-called patient care systems-â€Å"stores information about a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, and treatment plans† (Glandon & Smaltz, 2008). The organizations that choose to provide this care are also responsible for making sure that each patient’s medical information is available only to those who are authorized to view it. Another clinical system is called Public health information systems.These systems are in charge of supporting disease prevention and surveillance programs. Protecting public health is not a simple task; it requires knowing how to properly add and store health-related information about each individual. Without this system, any sort of leakage of sensitive information could lead to discrimination in employment or insurance eligibility. The final clinical information system, which is referred to as the medical research information system, is responsible for studying patterns of certain diseases in specific populations by using patient records.This act of studying common patterns is a way to prevent the reoccurrence of any fatal diseases and protect the health of others. Due to the fact that most of a patients’ data is accessible to many investigators, it is important that information security measures are taken to provide the necessary privacy. In order to establish this aspect of HIPAA, it is important for health care companies to appoint the responsibilities of enforcing the guidelines of HIPAA to the proper unit of the health care department. Some companies rely on co mpliance or specific privacy offices to ensure these obligations (Glandon & Smaltz, 2008).The fear of having no privacy can lead to individuals avoiding treatments or clinical tests because they feel their medical records are not protected properly. This fear puts the health of others in danger and can lead to bigger and more dangerous issues in the future. The other important aspect of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is the security rule, which â€Å"focuses on administrative, technical and physical safeguards specifically as they relate to electronic protected health information† (Yale University, 2013).With such critical information being stored electronically the security rule is also responsible for protecting the system against any sort of failure, including external tragic events that could take place randomly such as a fire or a power outage. These crucial files are usually copied to a removable disk to ensure that all files will not be lost. T his type of information can be stored in computer hard drives, memory cards, any kind of removable digital memory media or all transmission media that can be used to exchange information such as the internet (HIPAA, 2013).Preventing unauthorized viewing of electronic protected health information (ePHI) can become difficult due to the variety of ways information is stored. Overall the major goal of the Security rule is allow the development of new technologies that will help to improve the quality of care as well as protect all the sensitive health information that is shared and documented (Summary of The HIPAA Security Rule 2003). There are several measures that must be taken in order to secure all the different types of medical information.A proper security policy should include the three following elements: physical security, technical controls over access, and management policies (Glandon & Smaltz, 2008). These elements should be known by all staff and enforced by management. Whe n it comes to the proper amount of physical security there is no such thing as having too little or too much. The most common forms of physical security include hardware and data file security. Hardware securities defend computers from unauthorized access or viruses entering private files (Das, Kant, & Zhang, 2012).These are usually the first step of security that is taken in order to enforce the security portion of HIPAA throughout the medical records. Another element that helps secure private files is technical safeguards. Theses safeguards include ideas that are as simple as having a password that only authorized individuals are aware of or even creating a specific encryption that only the employees of a health care company are able to translate. Creating audit logs is great way to view who is logged into specific patients’ information and when they did so. This enables any supervisor to have superior knowledge of who accesses what information.The final element that a secu rity policy should provide is the enforcement of all management policies. These could include having written company security polices that are available for employees to review at any time. Making sure that all employees are aware of all security polices is important in order to ensure the safety of all medical records. These policies can be addressed in employee training, which is another important part of any management position. Employee training is where all questions should be answered and all policies should be understood.Employees also need to be informed of the disciplinary actions that will follow if any sort of the management policy is broken or disobeyed. There are always repercussions when it comes to breaking the rules; HIPAA has several consequences due to the disobedience of the people. There is a general penalty â€Å"for failure to comply with requirements and standards† (Penalties Under HIPAA, 2013). This is the more common penalty that occurs; it requires t he person who violated the rules to pay one hundred dollars for each violation and may not exceed $25,000 throughout a one year time frame.The other offense that includes any â€Å"wrongful disclosure of individual identifiable health information† (Penalties Under HIPAA, 2013) has a more in-depth punishment rate. This includes situations where an individual shares another individual’s health information to an unofficial person. Also, the obtainment of another individual’s medical information when it is not needed or asked for any specific medical reason is also included in this offense. The first penalty that is sentenced in this situation is that the violator will not be fined more than $50,000 and/or imprisoned up to one year.If the offense is committed under false pretenses the violator will not be fined any more than $100,000 and/or imprisoned for up to five years. The biggest penalty occurs if the offense is committed with the intention of selling an indivi dual’s medical record for certain advantages. In this case the violator will be fined no more than $250,000 and/or imprisoned for no more than ten years. Because the information protected under HIPAA laws is invaluable and incredibly sensitive, legislators made sure to implement punishments that will hopefully deter potential wrong doers from breaking the law.Unfortunately, the severe consequences that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act endorses, does not intimidate everyone. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is still the most effective act and it helps to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information, as well as secure the electronic protected health information. When the proper elements to both the privacy and security rules are followed, the more successful HIPAA will be.

The Role of Observations in the Everyday Life Assignment

The Role of Observations in the Everyday Life - Assignment Example What follows are some of my recollections from these occasions. Last week I went to the mall to observe people through a different lens. Our mall is multi-storied and has a variety of shops that one can peruse. A mall is a social place where people from all walks of life come to talk and be themselves. One often associates the mall with teenagers, but I was surprised to notice the number of older people that were there as well. In order to get a good picture of the mall, I sat on a bench outside the food court. From here, I was able to watch people eating, as well as shopping. Teenagers, quite predictably, were loud and boisterous. As I watched, however, I noticed quite a few elderly people using the mall as a place to walk. It was great to see them out in a social atmosphere enjoying some exercise. There was a great deal of non-verbal communication taking place. I noticed the teenagers could seemingly communicate with each other across table simply by their facial expressions. In addition, I did notice a lot of text messaging taking place. This is quite different than I would have thought, but I suppose it makes sense in today’s world. This impacted their interaction by limiting the amount of actual talking that was taking place. In this particular setting, the interaction was quite informal. There were simply groups of people enjoying a day out with their friends. It was refreshing to watch so many people leaving the cares of this world outside and enjoying a few hours of quality time with their friends and family. The assumption I take from this is that social events are needed in our society. There are a lot of distractions in our daily life, and the time we spend with those close to is very important. The impressions I formed involve the notion that communication styles are changing rapidly. Teenagers are moving towards more non-verbal communication, while older adults still prefer to talk face to face. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.  Ã‚  

Zoo Species Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Zoo Species Project - Research Paper Example Zoo Species Project Species are the smallest taxonomic division in biological classifications and is the level of classification with which an organism is identified as a distinct living or non- living organism over the earth’s surface. This is usually done by using the most salient and distinctive features that only such category of organisms possess on earth. The other taxonomic groups used in the classification of organisms include phylum, class, order, sub- order, family and genus to the kingdom and species at the extreme ends. This essay will cover the salient characteristics of the three identified species of, the okapi, the Komodo dragon, and the Double wattle cassowary. Okapi The okapi species can be taxonomically grouped to the Kingdom animalia, phylum chordata, class mammalia, order antiodactyla, sub- order ruminantia, family giraffidae, genus Giraffa carmelopardalis, and in the species Okapia johnstoni. The okapi is an herbivorous animal most common in tropical mountain forests of Afri ca. The animals are mainly common in central African tropical forests that have the favourable climatic conditions for the deer- like animals (Trooper and Murphy). They are mainly common in the Congo forest at an altitude of about 500 to 1000 meters above the sea level with most of them occupying areas with an altitude of 800 meters above the sea level mostly predominant in the Ituri forest of the DRC Congo. The animals can also be found in areas with slowly flowing waters. (Wood). Wood further notices in his book, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts that the okapis look similar to the giraffes having the long giraffe- like neck which not only help it reach out for leaves in the tall tropical forests but also useful in defence against the potential predators such as the lion, cheetahs, and other carnivorous predators. They have brown fur with white strips on their hind limbs and on the rear ends as the zebra that enables them to camouflage easily among the tall trees away from the pre dating animals. The animal is one of the only surviving ancestors of the giraffe family. The okapi is a very shy animal that is seldom seen by human beings. They spend most of their times in the forests usually very deep in the tropical forests where people seldom visit (Wood). Nearly a fifth of the tropical rainforest of the central Africa houses the okapi species. However, the number has been greatly threatened by the rapid rates of destruction caused by man on the tropical forests especially by deforestation leading to the ever-diminishing number of the okapi in Africa. As Eric and Laurie note in their book Windows to the Evolution of Diversity, the okapi is most active during the day and are mostly rendered inactive as the darkness approach. The animals like solitary lives during their lifetime and rarely walk, live or feed in colonies like the baboons or monkeys even though they sometimes feed together in groups just for a short period of time (Eric and Laurie). The animal is k nown to be feeding on over a hundred plant species some of which are considered poisonous to human being and other animals. They have long tongues that help them in feeding by increasing their heights enabling them to feed on tall plants. The gestation period for the female okapi is around sixteen months over which the females spend lots of their time in the thick woodlands deep in the forest certainly for the sake of the security of the pregnant female and the lamb after birth. Further, Trooper and Murphy underscore that these animals give birth to

African american life through 1865-1920 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

African american life through 1865-1920 - Essay Example Thesis The establishment and crash of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company influenced on social and economic life of African Americans starting from 1865 to 1874. A great contribution the FSB has made into genealogical research and records of the lives of African Americans during that period. The post Civil War period and the way African Americans have spent these years can be traced via documentation about each depositor and his family recorded by the FSB. Introduction A period to be considered in the essay is 1865-1874 years. This period was marked by the establishment of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company in 1865. This landmark was essential for further improvement and establishment of community bonds and social advancement of African Americans. These people have experienced numerous complexities and challenges starting from 1861, though 180,000 served in the army (The Long Walk, 2008). The first signs of the Freedman’s savings bank occurred during the Civil War a nd were initiated by the American officers. With the help of monetary savings, establishment of communal savings communities the African Americans wanted to support their relatives and families in economically hard times (Cox, 2008). Moreover, the deposit bank establishment provided key documentation and now it is possible to trace the actions of African Americans activities before and after war. In other words: â€Å"In many ways the FSB records document various aspects of collective economic activities in the transition from slavery to freedom† (Josiah, 2004). Bank’s establishment A specific nature of the FSB and its direct relation to African Americans can be explained by the nationality of depositors. The depositors consisted of veterans, ex-slaves and their families. The main goal of the FSB establishment is its influence on the social life African Americans. These people had a hope to deposit their savings and in such a way to invest in their future. Moreover, di fferent institutions and organizations received a chance to increase their financial power and expand their activities. Therefore, the interest of African Americans and an overall cooperation of this nation at all levels signify a strong social tendency to integration for a common good. For example, during that period such kind of organizations has occurred: ‘different hospitals, schools, the St. Elizabeth Home for Colored Children and the St. Francis Xavier Church’s Orphan Aid Society† (Josiah, 2004). Another important fact that means a trustful attitude of African Americans to the FBS is that the leading positions in the bank were occupied by the community activists: â€Å"A large number of African American soldiers and veterans of the Civil War held savings accounts in the banks; the management of their funds was organized through an allotment system supervised by the officers of the respective army regiments† (Joseph, 2005). As far as we can see, Africa n Americans were devoted to the FSB on the basis of a secure deposit management and supervision. A military background of the bank establishment and operation served as a perfect guarantee of a safe nature of deposits and was appealing for representative of any occupation among African Americans. Therefore, this bank has turned into â€Å"the largest single repository of lineage-linked African-American records with more than 480,000 names† (Joseph, 2005). At the highest point of its success, the FSB held assets that mounted up to $3.7 million. What is Freedman’s Savings Bank? African American

Distinct Varieties of Masculinity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Distinct Varieties of Masculinity - Essay Example The feminists believe that the discrimination curtails women rights and seek to see the situation changed. (Piper 2009) Masculinity refers to masculine which denote something related to a male who include men and boys. (Piper 2011) defines masculinity as an expression to serve and not to be served expressing a sacrifice for the woman, which requires giving direction and having a final say. While looking at the distinct values of masculinity arises from the comparison of feminist and masculinity where feminist seek for equality between men and women, but some things constitute for womanhood and others manhood. The essay below discusses the comparison of the two in regard to distinct variety of masculinity. Distinct varieties of masculinity To begin with thoughts and experiences of men, they help in understanding gender in terms of the masculine variables, as opposed to feminist. (Rotundo, p. 106) argues that women beauty lured men from their known pleasure and secure culture to follow ing women. Therefore, opining that gender gets socially construed with masculine thoughts and behaviors arising from social and cultural processes. The scholar opines that the new complex culture, give rise to the conception of self made manhood. (Rotundo, p. 80 ) Explains the boy’s culture, which prepared boys, for rough and competitive world of politics and business, also the youth culture characterized by debating clubs, where they learned new skills and how to compete in socially acceptable ways. Similarly, (Rotundo, p 86) expresses the idea of masculinity by demonstrating thinking and experiences during both boys and youth culture. Both cultures have great emotional depth involving wrestling, fisticuffs’ and rehearsals for marriage by teenage boys in preparation for adult responsibilities. The thoughts of young men inclined to taming girls while driven by desires for sex and home cooked food because they regarded women to be different from men. More so, the develo pment of culture had many think that masculinity manifested in the success of men in both business and politics. Argument and opinion Rotundo’s argument that masculinity can be traced from the thoughts and experiences of as construed in the cultural and social development has a lot of merits and some controversies. The following reasons support Rotundo’s argument: that culture develops and so the thinking and experience of a person changes as the social and cultural responsibility change; people do grow and so changes occur, so masculinity can be examined at different stages of one’s life as Rotundo considers the issue in different cultural stages; argument that a society undergoes economic and social changes (Rotundo, p. 22) requires that man change masculinity to adopt with the new roles. Therefore, this concept of distinct of masculinity is worthy agreeable with since the feminine assume its feminist like ways. Secondly, transforming masculinity can be

Compostion article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compostion article - Essay Example 547). With rapid advancements of and in technology, many fields have incorporated the Internet and its vast possibilities in their development. For instance, SOCR is an evidence of statistics utilizing online applications, programs, et cetera, to be a resource center for individuals interested with the field, wherever they may be. Because of the emergence of various tools in the integration of science, technology, and education, it is not impossible to have information technology (IT) methods of instruction. As a matter of fact, many academic institutions have provided online courses and programs in their curriculum. Statistics may be difficult for some students, and having options for education other than the traditional methods may have the possibility of facilitating easier learning and comprehension in the subject matter. The methods, results, and conclusions of the study will be discussed in this paper, as well as an analysis of the endeavor, looking into its strengths and weakn esses, including recommendations and implications for future researches. Review and Analysis I. Methods The researchers utilized â€Å"SOCR resources as instruments for IT-blended instruction in several courses,† where these courses included quizzes at the beginning of the quarter, Index of Learning Styles (ILS) assessment, standard quarter-wide learning evaluation quantitative measures through exams, quizzes, and homework, and beginning and ending attitude towards the subject surveys (p. 548). The design of the study is seen to gather both quantitative and qualitative data and is briefly described in the methodology portion of the paper, but one could notice that specific design traits are presented with the results, and in their corresponding statistical courses. The total number of subjects was not mentioned, but a portion in the paper states that there were 90 students involved in each section. Several variables were measured, including an assessment of background knowled ge on the first day of classes, learning styles, exam scores, pre- and post-attitude surveys, and satisfaction surveys at the end of the quarter. The setting for research conduction was not specified, but probably took place in statistics classes of UCLA. II. Results and Conclusions Outcomes of the study confirm gathered results of a previous study that indeed there is â€Å"technology-driven improvement of the quantitative performance in probability and statistics courses† (p. 557). In addition, findings suggest that learning styles and attitudes of students towards a discipline are important factors in their quantitative performance. The SOCR-treatment group shows a tendency in the increase of student satisfaction according to post-surveys, and standard assessment instruments revealed that there was quantitative performance improvement. Researchers thus conclude that complementing pedagogical methods with information technology positively affects the students’ academ ic performance and attitudes. With the use of technology-based instructional tools, students are able to understand and comprehend statistical concepts that are difficult to do so in the sole use of traditional classroom approaches. III. Strengths

Risk management in Toyota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Risk management in Toyota - Essay Example The quality of the Toyota cars, introduction of premium brands like Lexus in tune with the tastes and fashions prevailing in the American markets, its collaboration with the leading player General Motors subsequently, entrenched the brand ‘Toyota’ firmly into the USA. The success story of Toyota could be summed up from one of its slogans in the 1980s â€Å"Who could ask for anything more†. The product profile of the company has undergone changes to include larger and luxurious vehicles. The corruption charges leveled against the UJF Bank, one of the largest shareholders of Toyota with Toyota’s Chairman as a director was a setback to the company’s diversification strategy into financial services. Also, the over concentration in the already developed American and European markets over the period of time could strategically affect its leadership position in the global market in future. The financial risk is related predominantly to the issue of capital structure and leverage, but the business risk largely dependent upon the economic conditions, and the study of risk management in relation to a company like Toyota needs to focus on the macro economic factors. This paper seeks to analyze risk management perspective of the company in relation to the prevailing global economic conditions, its strategic outlook to changes in the environmental factors globally and other internal factors related to risk management. Currents status and evaluation of risk management The international economy has undergone drastic changes in the recent years consequent upon the stupendous growth of emerging economies, especially the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, China and India) countries and the credit squeeze in the aftermath of subprime crises in the developed nations. However, it is pertinent to note that the emerging economies have not been affected by the subprime crisis, as these countries have been insulated from the world economy by virtue of the continuin g regulations in these countries, especially in the financial services sectors, and their exposure to international banking system has been very limited. A cursory glance of US Vehicle Sales from 1984 to 2010 from Penton Media (2011), as given in Appendix I and II, which more or less coincides with Toyota’s establishment in the USA reveals the growth (or lack of growth) over the period of time. Competition The market for Toyota is very competitive. For example, Toyota’s competitors Suzuki of Japan and Hyundai of South Korea have well established facilities for manufacturing, marketing and servicing in India. The local manufacturer Tata Motors has aggressively priced its small car Nano around INR 100,000 which works out to just US$ 2400 approximately. Volume is going to be the name of the game in the emerging economies like India, China and Brazil. Jie, R. (2010) reports: â€Å"China has overtaken the United States and Japan to become the world's largest car manufactur ing country in 2009.† While Toyota was concentrating more and more on developed markets, its competitors have made inroads into the emerging markets, where Toyota is lagging behind the local as well as the international players. Realizing the potential in the small car segment in India, Chevrolet has introduced the model ‘Spark’ at INR 279,000 which works out to US$ 6200 approximately since ‘value for money’ or pricing is a crucial factor in influencing the consumers’