Health care regulation research

Healthcare Regulation Research

Regulation is a key aspect in the health care industry. Regulation is necessary to safeguard the public interest. In particular, regulation in the health care industry is all the more significant as it directly impacts the life and health of consumers (Field, 2006). The various regulatory institutions implement health care regulations to safeguard the general public from various health risks and augment public health and well-being. Health care regulations and standards are imperative and fundamental to make certain that there is compliance and to provide safe health care to every person that has accessibility to the healthcare system. They are established and executed at the local, federal and state levels (Field, 2006).

Selected Health Care Regulation

The selected health care regulation is the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The HIPAA Privacy Rule was allotted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to limit the usage and disclosure of personally perceptible data and information that relates to a patient or customer of healthcare services. In particular, this data and information is referred to as protected health information and this regulation was formed to safeguard the privacy of patients. Under this regulation, a covered healthcare entity is obligated to make practical endeavors to use, reveal and request solely the minimum essential amount of protected health information necessitated for any certain task. Based on the Privacy Rule, patients have rights over their health data and information as well as accessibility to their own medical records (Online Tech, 2017).

Reason for Selection

The main reason I selected this particular regulation is because the privacy of personal information, particularly health information, continues to be a puzzling issue in the United States. Taking into consideration that technology is incessantly advancing, a great deal of health information is being computerized, which gives rise to people expressing worry regarding their privacy and loss of control. Medical records of an individual can take into account some of the most confidential and intimate specifics regarding a person's life. These outline a patient's physical and psychological health, and can also consist of information regarding social manners, personal relations and monetary status. Safeguarding the confidentiality of health information also protects patients against apparent and potential financial harm emanating from discrimination in health insurance and employment. This fear comes about due to uncertainties about employer and insurer discrimination (Pritts, 2008).

Key Points

The key aspects of the HIPAA Privacy Rule encompass the following:

Entities Subject to the Privacy Rule

The HIPAA Privacy Rule is directly applicable solely to a key group of entities, mostly referred to as covered entities that employ and share data and information in the health care system that takes into account health plans, majority of health care providers, and health care clearing houses. The regulation permits these aforementioned covered entities to reveal health information, devoid of individual approval, to its business connections, individuals or entities that carry out particular functions or services on their behalf, necessitating the use or disclosure of personal health information, granted there are sufficient safety measures for the protected health information (Pritts, 2008).

Information Protected

The standards in the regulation are applicable to protected health information. In overall, protected health information takes into account individually distinguishable health information that is in possession of or maintained by a covered entity (Pritts, 2008).

Health Information not Protected by the Privacy Rule

The regulation is not applicable to individually distinguishable health information that is sustained by a person other than a covered entity and secondly information that has been de-recognized in keeping with the privacy rule (Pritts, 2008).

Limitations on Use and Disclosure

There are restrictions that are applicable. To begin with, covered entities in general, may not use or disclose protected health information (PHI) with the exception of when allowed or necessitated by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. On the whole, a covered entity may reveal PHI devoid of the person's consent for treatment, payment, and purposes of health care operations (Pritts, 2008).

Individual Rights