Instructions
Assume that you have been hired as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) by a local healthcare organization which has no health information privacy and security policy yet. Thus, your assignment is to formulate a health information privacy and security policy for the organization in accordance with the HIPAA and HITECH Privacy and Security Rules.
Before the development of the privacy and security policy document, your supervisor advises you to review the HIPPA and HITECH Privacy and Security regulations the organization is required to comply with.
In this assignment, address the following:
Outline of the specific policy you propose, The consequences of noncompliance with the applicable laws, and Measures to assure the correct application of Privacy and Security Rules. Make sure to consider all perspectives of the
access controls.
Feel free to use graphics and/or diagrams in your submission for illustration or support your viewpoint.Include a title page and reference page.Use appropriate APA-formatting.Use at least 2-3 credible sources of information as references
Health Information Privacy and Security Policy Proposal
Considering that the healthcare organization uses health information systems, it is necessary to have a health information privacy and security policy to protect patient information and care providers from any liability. The proposed policy will ensure the safe and responsible use of information systems and patient data. The policy will help to create trust between patients and their care providers to ensure disclosure of critical information and prevent the life-threatening outcome of failure to disclose critical information. The policy will ensure that care providers are accountable and responsible for patient data, on paper and in any other media. The policy will dictate when and to disclose such information to prevent violation of HIPPA and HITECH Privacy and Security regulations. The proposed policy describes the corporate goals and philosophies for user access and authentication. The policy will also cover other areas, such as availability, reliability, and information integrity in health information systems. Although the system is implemented at the hospital level, it has legal implications and consequences for violation.
Although the health information privacy and security policy will be implemented and enforced at the organizational level, stiff penalties will apply for violation depending on its nature and impact. The legal penalties for violating the policy, such as illegal access to patient information, will be enforced through HIPPA and HITECH Privacy and Security regulations. The consequences will be civil or criminal depending on whether the violation is intentional or accidental (Wall et al., 2015; Moore & Frye, 2019). Legal consequences will include financial penalties to the organization or the violating individual. The violating individual can also face imprisonment for violating the policy. The legal remedies are necessary to ensure patient information remains safe and secure from unlawful and unethical access.
Besides the legal consequences, violation of the policy will also have organizational-level consequences. According to Kiel et al. (2016), healthcare organizations can be liable for a violation of HIPPA and HITECH Privacy and Security regulations. Thus, to protect the organization from loss of goodwill, credibility, and trust due to the violation, the management has preventive measures. When implementing the policy, the management spells out the consequences of violations, such as warning, unpaid suspension, or firing termination, depending on the nature of the violation. For instance, an accidental violation, such as leaving the system open accidentally, can lead to a warning, while malicious access can cause termination of the involved party. The legal and organizational measures are critical to protecting patient information.
Hospitals cannot operate effectively without a policy to protect patient information, especially following the invention and the widespread adoption of health information systems. Thus, the new Chief Information Security Officer should spearhead creating a health information privacy and security policy to prevent illegal or unethical access to patient information. The proposed policy describes the legal mechanisms for access and authentication of information contained in health information systems and other electronic media that contain patient data. The policy spells out the individuals and entities allowed access to such information to ensure privacy and security. The policy also bears legal and ethical implications and consequences of violation under the HIPPA and HITECH Privacy and Security regulations. Thus, it will provide guidelines for the safe use of patient information to ensure quality and safety of care outcomes since patients will feel safe to provide critical information.
References
Kiel, J. M., Ciamacco, F. A., & Steines, B. T. (2016). Privacy and data security: HIPAA and HITECH. In Healthcare information management systems (pp. 437-449). Springer, Cham.
Moore, W., & Frye, S. (2019). Review of HIPAA, part 1: history, protected health information, and privacy and security rules. Journal of nuclear medicine technology, 47(4), 269-272.
Wall, J., Lowry, P. B., & Barlow, J. B. (2015). Organizational violations of externally governed privacy and security rules: Explaining and predicting selective violations under conditions of strain and excess. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 17(1), 39-76.
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Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
