valobasha99
Do³±czy³: 29 Lis 2023
Posty: 1
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 Wys³any: Czw Lis 30, 2023 04:45 Temat postu: Privacy & Security Rules for Healthcare Marketers |
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The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA for short, protects personal health information (PHI). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) manages HIPAA legislation and complaints — of which they receive thousands every year, proving that many organizations still have trouble fulfilling the compliance requirements.
As more and more aspects of healthcare data become digital and governments push for 100% digital healthcare records, privacy and security are major concerns for protecting PHI and PII (personally identifiable information). With devices such as smartwatches, fitness monitors, and related apps storing increasing amounts of PHI and PII, HIPAA applies to more organizations than ever before.
Privacy and Security Rules under HIPAA
The current Privacy Rule comprises a Special Data set of requirements for all healthcare providers and their data management partners. It includes revisions to the 2002 rule. These amendments have empowered patients to more easily access their records. The Privacy Rule mandates the following:
Organizations must appropriately safeguard PHI.
Organizations must only use patient data in line with limits set by HIPAA.
Patients have the right to access their health records.
Patients have the right to request copies of their data.
Patients have the right to request corrections to their data.
The Security Rule sets national standards that all healthcare-related organizations must meet without exception. While the Privacy Rule tells organizations what they must do, the Security Rule tells them how they must do it. The Security Rule focuses on electronically held information, known as e-PHI, or ePHI.
Where organizations don’t meet compliance regulations, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has the power to impose penalties.
What This Means for Healthcare Marketers
If you're marketing healthcare products and services, you need to ensure you collect the data you are using to communicate with potential consumers in a HIPAA-compliant manner. The Privacy and Security Rules are clearly about patient data being used appropriately, so if you don’t understand the compliance regulations, you could inadvertently put your organization at risk for fines.
However, not all communications from healthcare providers fall under the umbrella of marketing in the eyes of HIPAA. If healthcare providers are simply making someone aware of a product or service that their insurance already covers, then that does not count as marketing. For example, a healthcare provider who already provides benefits for an individual could let this person know about brand new equipment they have invested in, and this would not qualify as marketing.
Communications specifically about an existing treatment plan are not "marketing" either. If at any point during treatment the healthcare provider recommends a different avenue of care, including switching to different products or services, this is also exempt from marketing rules. The law considers this type of advice a form of care and a genuine recommendation with the patient’s health in mind. |
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