HIPAA Requirements
The following are the two HIPAA regulations: First, the HIPAA privacy rule explains the policy that requires healthcare providers to notify patients about the use of their health information. The rule, according to Bhandari, Hunter, Phillips, Keyser, and Morrow (2013), establishes national standards to protect patient health information held by health plans, business associates, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers who use electronic means to perform healthcare transactions. Second, the HIPAA security rule includes security standards for protecting patient health information that entities or business associates transfer or store electronically. The rule supplements the privacy rule by defining methods for protecting its information.
Patient health information is used in public health practices such as program evaluation to identify and respond to issues such as disease, death, and disability in the population (Bhandari, Hunter, Phillips, Keyser & Morrow, 2013). In a program evaluation, the evaluator should protect and preserve a person’s confidentiality. Furthermore, in order for evaluators to maintain the quality and integrity of health data collected for evaluation, they must recognize and consider the importance of protecting an individual’s privacy and dignity. Similarly, the evaluator must strictly adhere to the regulations in order to protect the patient’s medical information. Due to HIPAA’s privacy and security rules, the evaluator will only be able to look at a small set of data, unless the agreement says otherwise.
References
M. W. Bhandari, K. M. Hunter, K. Phillips, B. B. Keyser, and M. J. Morrow (2013).
Entry-level health education skills are put into practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning, Burlington, MA.