L. Blair Heath--HIM

L. Blair Heath--HIM

HIPAA, TB, and Me
The story is about a woman who’s daughter lives with a roommate that received a positive TB test. The college did not take the preventive course of action in order to protect the girl from also receiving TB. The student with the positive TB test did not want to take an x-ray because of radiation from an x-ray.

What is the author's major points? She is trying to show how a law with good intentions can actually hinder the health of some patients in certain situations. The goal of HIPAA is to protect patient information. The goal of health care providers should also incorporate preventing health problems if possible. I agree with the mother in this particular situation. It was the college’s responsibility to make sure the proper course of action was taken. They knew that the girl contracted TB within the past year, and it was only fair to those around her for her to have an x-ray.

The mom definitely had a much better understanding of HIPAA regulation. It was the Health Services Center Administrator’s duty to disclose personal information in order to avert threats to the health and safety of others. She could have also answered the mom’s questions without disclosing patient information.

Everyone was putting patients privacy over everything else. Protecting patients and preventive care was not above of protecting patient privacy. The administrator thought that she was following the law by protecting one patient’s privacy, when she was in fact preventing the care of another.

The goal of HIPAA is to protect patient privacy. Many health care providers understand that it is their job to protect patient privacy. There is some discrepancy. Sometimes it is more hassle than help. They protect information from people that it does not need to be protected from. The HIPAA law has good intentions but it is a difficult law.

The author’s point is that although HIPAA attempts to do something good, sometimes it does not always turn out that way. She is showing how HIPAA grants information to police, employers, court officials—but not mom, dad, son, daughter. I agree with the mom in some aspects. It is a controversial issue. In some situations it seems that patient privacy should be protected, but in many situations this is not the case—yet it is still protected. Many health care providers know that they can receive jail time for violating the HIPAA law, so they obviously do not want to break HIPAA rules even if it means putting someone else in harm's way.