Prepare a 3-4 page brief analyzing how HIPAA impacts the regulatory environment and industry structure and recommend best practices for HIPAA compliance and managing ethical behavior in the provided scenario:
Introduction
This assessment’s HRM healthcare challenge is to support Vila Health in implementing better HR processes to avoid Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations, a law that protects patient health information, which will align the organization’s mission with both legal compliance and ethical behavior.
To prepare for writing a brief in this assessment, conduct research on best practices for avoiding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations. HIPAA is a federal law requiring healthcare organizations to have standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.
HRM Healthcare Challenge
Sylvia Reed, Director of Human Resource Management for the Western United States for Vila Health, has been impressed with your work and has come to you with a project. She explains that the organization has had a number of HIPAA violations and she wants to implement better HR processes. She hopes to align organizational mission with legal compliance and ethical behavior. What will you advise her as you prepare a brief on medical records, reporting, and privacy best practices?
Instructions
Using course resources and your own research, include the following in your brief to your supervisor:
- Analyze how HIPAA impacts the regulatory environment and healthcare industry structure.
- What have been some mistakes in recent times that organizations have made? How might these mistakes have been avoided?
- Explain the legal and ethical basis for patient privacy.
- Assess how HIPAA compliance impacts the delivery of quality healthcare.
- How does the electronic storage and access of medical records impact patient care?
- What best practices could be instituted to manage HIPAA compliance while aligning to the organization’s mission and ethical standards?
Additional Requirements
The deliverable for this assessment applies professional skills in HRM to workplace situations that you will likely encounter in your day-to-day work. As part of your learning, we focus on the development of effective professional communication skills for the workplace. Your assessment should meet the following additional requirements:
- Length: Your brief should be 3–4 typed, double-spaced pages, plus the cover and resources pages.
- The first page should be a cover sheet with your name, the course number, assessment title, and date. No other information is required on this page.
- Use the following section headings for your brief:
- HIPAA Definition and Explanation.
- The Value of HIPAA.
- Common HIPAA Violations (or Issues or Challenges).
- Best Practices.
- The last page should be the reference list.
- Organization: Make sure that your assessment writing is well organized, using headings and subheadings to organize content for the reader.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
- Resources: Use a minimum of three references (you may include the optional textbook) and include both trade publications and peer-reviewed articles.
- Evidence: Support your assertions with data and/or in-text citations.
- APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting (see Evidence and APA Campus page).
- Written communication:
- Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
- Use spell-check and other tools to ensure correct spelling and grammar.