Question

what does the future of HIPAA look like

Answer 1

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA is a federal law. It was enacted in 1996. It directed the US Department of Health and Human Services to develope national standards. This law increased the patient’s privacy as it prevents the disclosure of sensitive patient health information without his/ her consent or knowledge.

Main Rules/ Components under HIPAA are:-

· *Privacy Rule

· *Transactions and Code Sets Rule

· *Security Rule

· *Unique Identifiers Rule

· *Enforcement Rule.

The Objectives/ Purposes of HIPAA are:-

· Assure health insurance portability by eliminating job-lock due to pre-existing medical conditions.

· Reduce healthcare fraud and abuse.

· Enforce standards for health information.

· Guarantee security and privacy of health information

Need To Update

HIPAA needs to be updated to facilitate data-driven healthcare innovation while protecting the privacy and security. Patient records are shared among clinics, hospitals, health insurance plans, pharmaceutical developers, and life science companies without the knowledge or consent of the patient. This sharing can expand to Google and other platforms in the future, as Digital medical data is important to be reviewed for new treatments and better care. But there is a need to balance data privacy, security, and ownership rights.

But patients cannot stop it under the current privacy law. Most of the consent forms at health care settings, appears to patients to be required in order to get care. So patients usually do not refuse to sign them, without knowing that, these authorize the sharing of their data. Thus patients allow companies to access their healthcare data. This is an era of digital health. Healthcare can be delivered with the aid of remote connected devices, that create and store data. These data can be used for studies of drugs and devices even without patient approval.

Access to patient records should be limited to care providers. If it has to be shared for any other purposes, it has to be carried out with respect to access, use, and storage under specific rules of engagement. Patients also should obtain a copy of their data retrieved by external sources. HIPAA should ensure the safe and effective use of patient data in the future