In 2002 the medical world changed drastically. At least in the United States that is. That is when HIPAA took effect. Or in other words the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This meant big changes for the way hospitals and any medical office or professional handled billing, patient records and privacy and various other things. Almost everybody needed HIPAA consulting.
Anytime a big change comes down the pipeline there will be growing pains. This is true for any industry and it was also true for the medical industry as well. The changes that took place were big. One of the reasons it was so difficult for the medical industry to catch on to what HIPAA was and required was because many doctors do not know the first thing about insurance, how it works, or any of the other paperwork involved in their office.
The privacy rights of each and every patient would be front and center and would become one of the most important pieces of information dealt with during the registration process. Hospitals and medical offices even went as far as to have individual patients sign a document stating that they were indeed given their privacy rights paperwork. No hospital staffer wanted to be caught off guard.
It is important for patients to be given their rights and information because when the act was first introduced it was a bit confusing to professionals and doctors and the average patient would need some help to understand what exactly was involved in the act. This was very important because it effected the patients the most.
One of the biggest new changes was that before any medical information was to be shared with any other agencies for any reason, the patient must give express written consent for the communication to take place. In the past only a faxed request or written request from the doctor would do. Today all the power rests with the patient.
There were some other common sense issues brought to the attention of staffers and medical professionals as well while the consulting agents were helping out. Patients names were not called out in waiting rooms for all to hear and charts are kept private and only the patient has the power to allow access to records.
That was a smart consultants idea, to make sure patients signed that form saying that they did get their HIPAA paperwork. This kept many doctors from losing their compliance with the new rules and regulations. It took a while but once it was underway and people understood what to do it was not bad at all.
People thought this would be just another form to hand out and boy were they mistaken. HIPAA consulting might have saved the medical industry from taking five large steps in the wrong direction. As difficult as it all may have been we as patients are all better for it. We no longer will have issues with the wrong people getting our records. IT is even difficult for us to get our own sometimes, but that is a good thing because it is that hard or harder for everyone else.
Anytime a big change comes down the pipeline there will be growing pains. This is true for any industry and it was also true for the medical industry as well. The changes that took place were big. One of the reasons it was so difficult for the medical industry to catch on to what HIPAA was and required was because many doctors do not know the first thing about insurance, how it works, or any of the other paperwork involved in their office.
The privacy rights of each and every patient would be front and center and would become one of the most important pieces of information dealt with during the registration process. Hospitals and medical offices even went as far as to have individual patients sign a document stating that they were indeed given their privacy rights paperwork. No hospital staffer wanted to be caught off guard.
It is important for patients to be given their rights and information because when the act was first introduced it was a bit confusing to professionals and doctors and the average patient would need some help to understand what exactly was involved in the act. This was very important because it effected the patients the most.
One of the biggest new changes was that before any medical information was to be shared with any other agencies for any reason, the patient must give express written consent for the communication to take place. In the past only a faxed request or written request from the doctor would do. Today all the power rests with the patient.
There were some other common sense issues brought to the attention of staffers and medical professionals as well while the consulting agents were helping out. Patients names were not called out in waiting rooms for all to hear and charts are kept private and only the patient has the power to allow access to records.
That was a smart consultants idea, to make sure patients signed that form saying that they did get their HIPAA paperwork. This kept many doctors from losing their compliance with the new rules and regulations. It took a while but once it was underway and people understood what to do it was not bad at all.
People thought this would be just another form to hand out and boy were they mistaken. HIPAA consulting might have saved the medical industry from taking five large steps in the wrong direction. As difficult as it all may have been we as patients are all better for it. We no longer will have issues with the wrong people getting our records. IT is even difficult for us to get our own sometimes, but that is a good thing because it is that hard or harder for everyone else.
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