Hipaa Breaches
hipaa breaches
What does a HIPAA Privacy Officer do?
In any large health care organization, the position of a HIPAA Privacy Officer will require support of some staff just manage all these administrative tasks and in a small clinic HIPAA privacy officer’s responsibilities will involve only a part of a person’s job responsibilities. In some parts of the economy, like banking & finance, the HIPAA privacy officer is more of a senior manager. Yet in health care sector, these responsibilities are attended to by a middle level manager, even in large facilities.
Typically, a privacy officer is someone having (or can develop) sound knowledge of HIPAA’s privacy requirements as well as conversant with state law, one who has a clinical care background or experience in PHI management as well as comfortable in implementing information technology, compliance and risk management. Yet from the practical point of view very few people have the required skills or knowledge whether its a large facility or a small clinic, chances being lesser in the latter. Hence the responsibilities are assigned to an employee who is willing to be a jack of all trades.
To make the work for the HIPAA Privacy officer easier the entire concern can aim to follow the simple steps of HIPAA compliance rather than expecting an officer to monitor them at every step of administration. Hence if the internal staff is trained and inspired to follow the compliance tasks, work becomes simpler and there is no radical change in the process of the organization.
To sum up these are some of the responsibilities of a HIPAA Privacy Officer:
To develop and implement a document on HIPAA Security and Privacy and also a privacy notice for the customers AS TO HOW THE PARTICULAR HEALTHCARE CONCERN STRIVES TO PROTECT THE health records information through HIPAA standards
A detailed documentation of all the steps of privacy and training of employees and also the complaints on breaches which have been received in the last 6 years have to be maintained. The Privacy officer is solely responsible for documenting this information.
The Privacy officer has a twofold task of maintaining public contact by informing the consumers as well as noting the conflicts and resolving them.
The responsibilities also vary with the size of the concern. While small healthcare entities can have a single person, larger organizations might have to set up an entire department depending on the work.
Please let me know if this is a breach of the HIPAA laws?
I had taken a day off work because i need to see a counselor regarding deep depression that I am going thru. After returning, my immediate supervisor asked me what was the problem. I expressed to him that I am going thru a really bad time right and neede to speak to someone with the employee assistance program. The next day my supervisor’s boss came in and began taunting me about me being so depressed…this went on for the majority of the day. It was being said in front of clients and coworkers. Please tell me if this is in violation of HIPAA.
Take a look at the Americans with Disabilities Act – it protects workers from discrimination on the basis of a disability. Depression may be covered if it “interferes with one or more major life activities.” You would have to outline the particulars and then try to sort out a “reasonable accommodation” on the employer’s part, so long as you can perform ” the essential functions” of you job. The other thing to look at is the Family Medical Leave Act – in some circumstances, you can take off work for a maximum of 12 weeks for your disability, and this can be done intermittently instead of all at once if you document the need for this care. Your HR can help – but as with anything, pursuing your rights can set off some underlying current of retaliation. Good luck with your decision, and with your health. Take good care of yourself.
Patient Privacy Breaches – A Growing Crisis? (Part III)
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Handling HIPAA & HITECH Act Breaches, Complaints, and Investigations: Everything That You Need to Know $69.95 The newest member of our HIPAA compliance guide family offers: -How to determine whether it is a breach. |
