Confidentiality of Medical Information: Complying with HIPAA and State Law

Course overview

This course provides an overview of the confidentiality of medical information, both under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the general requirements of state law. While this activity is not a comprehensive treatment on the subject, it will provide instruction on compliance with HIPAA's privacy standards on a day-to-day basis for providers and will deal, in a very general way, with state law requirements for protecting the confidentiality of medical information. While HIPAA can impose fines and penalties for violations, state law on confidentiality can provide for civil damages that can run into thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Providers need to be aware of the requirements of both HIPAA and state law. In this activity, in addition to providing an overview of the requirements of HIPAA and state law, we will provide case reviews on the following topics: course and scope of employment; casual communications; source of the disclosure; state law protection; and business associates. After completing this activity, learners should be able to: plan for training on the use of protected health information; interpret laws and policies regarding protected health information to avoid wrongful disclosure outside the work setting; and demonstrate the use of a business associate agreement with all business associates in order to provide appropriate protection for any PHI shared with them.