1. Dr. Sherrie H. Lu
MHA690: Health Care Capstone
Ashford University
2/6/2012

2. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or
HIPAA for short, includes punishments for anyone caught
violating patient privacy. Under HIPAA, the hope is that
educated patients will be able to trust their providers and
the organization in which they work (HIPAA and Patient
Confidentiality Training). To build trust, HIPAA calls on
health care workers and others with access to patient
information to learn the rules for privacy and
confidentiality and then live by them.

3. Confidentiality and privacy means that patients have the
right to control who will see their protected, identifiable
health information. This means that communication with
or about patients involving patient health information will
e private and limited to those who need the information to
provider treatment, payment, or healthcare operations
HIPAA and Patient Confidentiality Training). Such
communications may involve verbal discussion, written
communication, or electronic communications. Only those
people and computer processors with an authorized need
to know will have access to protected information (HIPAA
and Patient Confidentiality Training).

4. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 is a multifaceted piece of Legislation that covered
these three areas: 1) Insurance portability, 2) Fraud
enforcement and 3) Administrative Simplification (HIPAA
and Patient Confidentiality Training). HIPAA was enacted to
improve the efficiency and efficacy of the healthcare
system. The first two components of HIPAA are already in
effect, portability and accountability (HIPAA and Patient
Confidentiality Training). Portability ensures that
individuals moving from one health plan to another will
have the continuity of coverage and will not be denied
coverage under pre-existing clauses. Accountability
significantly increases the federal government’s fraud
enforcement authority in many different areas.

5. The Administrative Simplification portion, specifically privacy and
confidentiality will be the focus of this course. This portion of HIPAA
deals in areas of: Privacy, Security, and Transaction Standards (HIPAA and
Patient Confidentiality Training). This rule set national standards for the
protection of health information, as applied to three types of entities:
health plans, health care clearing houses, and health care providers who
conduct certain health care transactions electronically (HIPAA and Patient
Confidentiality Training). The three major purposes for the privacy rules
are:
 Protect patients’ right by giving them access to their health information
and control over making sure the records were used appropriately.
 Improve the quality of care by restoring trust in the health care system.
 Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the way health care is
delivered by creating a framework for privacy that build on efforts by
states and health systems (HIPAA and Patient Confidentiality Training).

6. Consequently, HIPAA training may involve educational
courses, hands-on training exercises, the use of
agreements in the workplace, computer training and any
other type of training. Such courses may be live, in-person
training or computerized training (HIPAA Training
Requirements). Courses generally focus on key areas, such
as the ways in which the employer utilizes protected
health information, how the employer takes precautions to
ensure the confidentiality of the patient information, the
organization's privacy policies and procedures, the method
for resolving potential breaches of patient information and
the consequences of a HIPAA violation(HIPAA Training
Requirements).

7. If a covered entity handles patient data in its computer
network, that entity must provide HIPAA-specific computer
training. The storage of patient information and the
exchange of this information via computers present the
potential for accidental breach of patient confidentiality
(HIPAA Training Requirements). Consequently, HIPAA training
requires that computer users receive a password and are
taught the ways in which a HIPAA violation may be avoided.
Under HIPAA, any covered entities must continue to provide
HIPAA training to its workers. Thus, entities must be vigilant
in keeping abreast of any HIPAA developments and changes
such that HIPAA training efforts remain updated. One way to
provide ongoing HIPAA training is to use internal documents,
such as newsletters, to advise workers of HIPAA changes
(HIPAA Training Requirements).

8. HIPAA Confidentiality and Privacy Training
http://www6.miami.edu/sonhs/students/studentinfopdf/HIPPA_Confidentially_and_
Privacy_Training.pdf
HIPAA Training Requirements www.ehow.com/about_5233894_hippa-training-
requirements.html