Discuss a HIPAA violation you have experienced, heard about, or read about. What was the HIPAA violation? What were the circumstances? What should have been done? Discuss your thoughts on whether HIPAA really does what it is meant to do regarding patient privacy and security concerns? Why should organizations strive to protect patient information?

Please make your initial post by midweek, and respond to at least one other student’s post by the end of the week.

Student Post

A few years back there was a case at the local hospital where a well-known person was a patient with a legal case pending due to the circumstance surrounding his injury. Approximately 10 nurses were fired one day do to a HIPAA violation. Those nurses were accessing the patients’ information even though they were not in the direct care of this person. My assumption is they were let go under the “Minimum Necessary” rule which states “… to limit unnecessary or inappropriate access to, and disclosure of PHI beyond what is necessary. (Gartee, 2011) I would have to agree with the actions of the hospital. HIPAA was put into place to protect the privacy and security of a persons’ information. I would say that HIPAA works like it was planned to since the introduction of electronic medical records was just around the corner. Sometimes just the idea or presenting privacy as mandatory keeps the thought of privacy to the forefront for employee expectations and customers’ expectations of that entity. Organizations should thrive to protect PHI to show the integrity of the company and its commitments to patients.