IHP 610 4-1 Short Paper

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4-1 SHORT PAPER 1 4-1 Short Paper: Healthcare Policy or Law Analysis Adam Mirkin Southern New Hampshire University IHP 610: Health Policy and Law Dr. James Dockins October 15, 2023

4-1 SHORT PAPER 2 Selection of the Policy or Law For the purposes of this exercise, it made sense to select a piece of federal legislation that reached all areas and levels of the healthcare industry. To that end, the law chosen was the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which was enacted to safeguard the healthcare information of patients throughout the system, as well as updated to keep the law current with trends and technology. It is absolutely necessary for all healthcare recipients and providers to have a working knowledge of HIPAA as it applies to their roles within the healthcare environment. History of Policy or Law HIPAA was passed and signed into law in 1996, and its original primary purpose was to streamline the process for patients to have their health care data shared with other providers, and to take a more active role in controlling access to said data (CDC, 2022). In addition to making provisions for this ease of access, the law also sets out what would qualify as an acceptable use of an individual’s information both with and out express consent. This ability to choose what is disclosed, as well as when and to whom, is the bedrock of the current American healthcare information system and is a very necessary function of the law. Part of this choice also includes the means by which information is shared, or released, and whether it is acceptable to be shared solely within certain providers of an organization or can be utilized for coordination of care with other providers (CDC, 2022). Simply bringing HIPAA to effect was only the initial phase, as the statute and its rules have been consistently altered and updated in the years since its inception. Legislators have been able to adjust its restrictions and guidelines while effectively keeping one eye on the present situation while also remaining forward thinking regarding what may be seen as a challenge

4-1 SHORT PAPER 3 moving forward. This sense of forethought reflects and takes into account the uncertainty of what the future may hold, particularly with respect to adhering to societal norms and maintaining cultural sensitivity (Knowles, 2018). The first major change to HIPAA’s structure and enforcement came ten years after its introduction with the creation of the Enforcement Rule, which gave the federal government the ability to respond and react to non-compliant agencies and providers. This provision was set in motion by giving HHS the ability to investigate and levy punishment to those agencies who have been knowingly non-compliant with the Security Rule in the original legislation. In 2009, the HITECH Act was brought into law, encouraging the usage of semi-standardized electronic health records to ensure that it became simpler to move information between providers. As an additional portion of this rule, it became mandatory for all large healthcare data breaches to be reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR, 2022), for investigation and management. Future updates have occurred in the intervening yars, but none have had the sweeping large-scale impact as the first two. Influence of Stakeholders and Interest Groups When looking at those who can be considered stakeholders in the enactment and implementation of HIPPA, the primary stakeholder will always be the patients whose information is being protected from potential breaches. With that being said, the group whose stake is technically even larger would be that of the legislature, who took on the responsibility and duty of creating the HIPAA statute and its stipulations to uphold the integrity of the patients’ health information. Secondary stakeholders exist in this situation as well, and these would be health care providers and organizations in addition to malpractice insurance companies. Their stake is largely financial, as they are the groups that will bear the burden of meeting any fines.

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4-1 SHORT PAPER 4 Key Drivers of Policy or Law When considering HIPAA’s implementation and updates throughout its history, the initial driver of the legislation was simply the need to provide increased protection of the data belonging to health care consumers. This aim was reinforced through the efforts of the legislature and other governmental agencies to produce a comprehensive, yet adaptable, framework for protecting information. Those who can feel the strongest impact of the law would be primarily those whose data is now protected as well as those who can potentially be punished for data breaches, specifically providers and insurers. Proposed Changes or Amendments The means to go about proposing and implementing changes to HIPAA would be one of deep investigation and analysis to determine the costs of benefits of suggested changes before even considering which, if any, to bring into action. The driver of this process could potentially be a special interest group or political action committee, acting on the objective agenda of determining the need for changes and what the implementation would look like. These groups could liaise with members of the legislature to raise awareness of any issues that would benefit through amending HIPAA, and can subsequently act as a pseudo public relations firm to advocate for the change to be passed and utilized (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2020). When it comes to choosing a proposed change to the way HIPAA is utilized by the health care industry, the thing that comes to mind would be to provide greater standardization in terms of how permission is given to release information as well as for reporting potential breaches. The most efficient way of achieving this end is to require one uniform release of information to be used by all providers, and this would ensure that the portability aspect of HIPAA is implemented in a much cleaner and straightforward fashion.

4-1 SHORT PAPER 5 References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2022). Health insurance portability and accountability act. CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publictions/topic/hipaa.html Knowles, S. (2018). The importance of a historical perspective in policy making. HIPAA Journal. https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-updates-hipaa-changes/ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). (2022). The HIPAA privacy rule. HHS. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/index.html Teitelbaum J. B., & Wilensky S. E. (2019). Essentials of Health Policy and Law. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

IHP 610 4-1 Short Paper

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