The other day, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) technology office shared an outside blog about the intricacies of getting doctors to e-mail with patients.
The blogger suggested that physician boredom with routine questions was more of an obstacle than Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and data security requirements — but then talked about prodding doctors and patients to use an existing "mobile-based secure messaging system."
Spouses and children run into terrible HIPAA privacy rules when trying to care for loved ones with dementia in a rational fashion. Members of Congress have heard allegations that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is using HIPAA privacy rules as a defense against whistleblowers.
Agents, brokers and care coordinators who work with long-term care insurance (LTCI) beneficiaries seem to need a master's degree in HIPAA privacy rules to do their jobs.
A government attorney said in June that agencies had collected $10 million in HIPAA privacy and date security violation fines in the previous 10 months. Some of the targets are the kinds of big teaching hospitals that may have helped write the HIPAA regulations. What hope does a mild-mannered LTCI agent have with HIPAA when the law trips up New York Presbyterian Hospital?