The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps protect medical and personal data of patients against theft, misuse and fraud. It allows the owner of the insurance to be the owner of his or her own private medical information and make changes and copies. Under the HIPAA, theft of information, misuse of information, and public discussions of the patient’s health are considered offenses to name a few.

In case the patient suspects misuse or theft of information or any other violation as mentioned under the act, he or she may lodge a formal complaint against the alleged offending party. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under the US Department of Health and Human Services takes up the cases and complaints.

Listed below are 10 things you must know about the HIPAA Violations.

– If the medical information of a patient has been accessed without his or her permission, it is considered a violation. A time period is allocated for remedial action, failing which a fine is imposed.

– If medical records of a patient are accessed more than once, it is considered a repeat violation. The penalty is even more severe.

– If the patient suspects that his or her medical or personal information has been used for commercial purposes, it is considered a HIPAA violation and the patient can file a complaint against the offending party.

– Public discussions about the patient’s health between the doctors and nurses are also considered a breach of confidentiality.

– A printed form to lodge the complaint is available from the OCR.

The details of the patient and all contact details and those of the offending party have to mentioned and the filled up form has to be submitted back to the OCR. The same details may also be filled up on a plain piece of paper and submitted at the OCR. The filled up form may be faxed or emailed to the OCR.

– Details of the violation have to be mentioned in the complaint, the nature of the violation, date of the violation and the details of the alleged offending party.

– As per the HIPAA, there are certain guidelines mentioned to protect the privacy of the patients. If the guidelines are not being followed, it can be considered a violation.

– All the old records of patients have to be disposed off efficiently to avoid any possible misuse. Improper disposal of information is considered a violation.

– The OCR allocates a time period for the offending party to perform remedial action. Upon the failure to meet this deadline, an additional fine may be imposed.

– Failure to protect online data from third party is also considered a violation. The insurance house or covered entity who is responsible for the group health scheme has to protect all the private information and secure it with firewalls.

The best way to minimize violations and penalties is to train the patients all about HIPAA. With a good, sound knowledge, it is easy for the patients to identify violations and register complaints.

For more information, please visit our violations of hipaa website.

For more information, please visit our violations of hipaa website http://www.hipaaviolations.com

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