Amy Dukoff
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 HE ACRONYM HIPAA
stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Congress
passed this act in 1996 to improve the effectiveness of the health care
system. The goals of HIPAA are to protect our patients’ privacy,
maintain patient information and billing in accordance with the national
standards, and keep our patients’ charts secure. The privacy of a
patient’s medical history and billing are to be protected. In the
words of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, “The new privacy
regulations ensure a national floor of privacy protections for patients
by limiting the ways that health plans, pharmacies, hospitals and other
covered entities can use patients’ personal medical information. The regulations
protect medical records and other individually identifiable health information,
whether it is on paper, in computers or communicated orally.” The fines
for failure to comply are stiff, from $25,000 to $250,000 with criminal
penalties.
HIPAA’s policies may take time to digest, but adapting
to their new set of standards does not really require much of a change
in what one is currently doing. All it takes is a new awareness of
what HIPAA is protecting and what we as health care providers must do to
comply.
I have adapted the following list of key provisions
of these new standards from the Department of Health and Human Services
guidelines:
Access to Medical Records
Patients generally should be able to see and obtain copies of their
medical records and request corrections if they identify errors and mistakes.
Doctors generally should provide access to these records within 30 days
and may charge patients for the cost of copying and sending the records.
Notice of Privacy Practices
Doctors must provide a notice to their patients how they may use personal
medical information and their rights under the new privacy regulation.
Doctors are expected to provide the notice on the patient’s first visit
following the April 14, 2003, compliance date and upon request. You generally
should ask patients to sign, initial, or otherwise acknowledge that they
received this notice.
Limits on Use of Personal Medical
Information
The privacy rule sets limits on how doctors may use individually identifiable
health information. The rule does not restrict the ability of doctors,
nurses, and other providers to share information needed to treat their
patients. In other situations, though, personal health information generally
may not be used for purposes not related to health care, and you may use
or share only the minimum amount of protected information needed for a
particular purpose.
Confidential Communications
Under the privacy rule, patients can request that their doctors take
reasonable steps to ensure that their communications with the patient are
confidential. For example, a patient could ask a doctor to call his or
her office rather than home, and the doctor’s office should comply with
that request if it can be reasonably accommodated.
HIPAA affects the dentist and the entire practice team. Part of the
dentist’s responsibility is to educate the dental team and employees.
The front desk area becomes an area of concern when a patient’s privacy
is considered. For example, the support staff must keep a low tone
of voice so that other patients cannot overhear conversation with or about
a specific patient. Also, computer screens should be placed and angled
so that patients cannot view them easily. HIPAA requires that you take
steps to protect the information you write and send electronically about
a patient. Faxes and emails should have privacy warnings on them.
To gain more information on HIPAA, you can contact
the ADA. You may be able to attend an informative seminar on compliance,
as I did. The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services has a
helpful website where you will find guidelines and technical assistance
with compliance at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/.
Healthcare Compliance Solutions, Inc. (HCSI) located in Sandy, Utah, can
help you accomplish compliance. Their fax is (801) 943-6658 and telephone
(801) 947-0183. Their website is at http://www.hcsiinc.com/.
They helped our office take the necessary steps to be compliant.
All of us work hard at providing the best care for
our patients. HIPAA is another way to ensure that each patient’s
privacy is more closely monitored and to increase out awareness in this
area.
May-June 2003
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