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| Hungry, Hungry HIPAA: Rants and Musings of a Retail Pharmacist |
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by The Redheaded Pharmacist - September 12, 2011
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Provided by The Redheaded Pharmacist
Does anyone remember the old tabletop Hasbro game by the name Hungry Hungry Hippos? There were four little plastic hippos with a handle on them to control their mouths. You tried to get as many of the marbles off the game surface as you could by hitting your handle and controlling your hippo. And yes, I do realize sadly just how much this reference dates me!
Well, those hippos always seemed hungry. And so do the United States lawmakers. Their proposed revisions to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) might sound like an advance in the area of patient rights but seems to be more about increasing regulation and further burdening the healthcare system than adding any real positive enhancements. But it really might mean that HIPAA will just become bigger and bigger in the near future.
So what am I talking about? We as part of the 2009 stimulus act there was something called HITECH Act. That was basically the healthcare and medical records portion of the stimulus bill. Well now the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering a proposed change to the HITECH Act. And that change involves a patient’s right to know who is looking at their medical records.
You see under current HIPAA regulations healthcare providers or anyone with access to health information must track who is accessing a patient’s medical records. But not all that information about who is getting to the information has to be disclosed. But the big proposal change to the HIPAA regulations would create the requirement for an access report to be generated at the request of the patient to show them who has been accessing their personal protected health information. There is also a set regulation on what must be included in this report. You can find more information about the proposed changes to HIPAA here. Those potential changes wouldn’t take place until 2013 but the impact on any healthcare provider might happen sooner.
But the bottom line is that soon patients could ask for a report of who has accessed their personal health information and expect to receive a standard report as they do when they get their patient profile or fill history. And there would be a 30 day time limit to provide such information to any patient requesting it. And the records for this report must go back three years to comply.
While at first this rules change would seem to impact physicians more than pharmacies the reality is that we could also be impacted by the potential changes in regulations as well. There are details to be hammered out before the new regulations would be finalized but this could mean a new accounting requirement for all healthcare providers including pharmacies. And that usually means more paperwork to file and maintain.
So what to make of this potential change? Well, the AMA and several other medical groups have already raised concerns over the potential changes. They feel this will be burdensome for them to comply and not really help protect patients. I would think they are right. They will have to spend a lot of money to comply. And pharmacies would be in a similar position.
I find it hard to believe that the healthcare system needs another form to comply with and update our software systems to be able to generate. We’ve been drowning in paperwork for a long time in the healthcare system already. This is just something else pharmacies will have to generate for patients and have available for them. But will patients even want to know this information unless they suspect something is wrong? And how much will it cost to update software systems to comply with the new rules?
I’m one of those pharmacists that questions the validity of the entire HIPAA regulatory system in place and not just these potential rules changes being discussed. These laws and regulations were put in place to protect patients rights. I support patients rights to privacy but how does yet another form healthcare providers are forced into generating do anything but increase heatlhcare costs? What results from regulations such as this is usually accounting nightmares and not increased security for patient information.
I’ve heard many people question why the United States healthcare system is so expensive per patient. We have top quality care but it costs so much more here than the rest of the world. There are lots of reasons behind that excessive cost. And part of all of that added expense is the burden of complying with regulation after regulation on the part of providers. And all the administrative expenses can add up.
It’s almost like HIPAA is this beast that must constantly get fed. It is growing and growing and the resulting avalanche of regulations is more about paperwork and accounting requirements than actual patient rights and protections. And now the HHS wants more? And all of the money that goes into designing and printing yet another disclosure form could actually be going to things like patient care and disease management. But instead, there will be another sheet for us to print at work that gets filed in a box somewhere that will only become relevant during an audit.
Someone on Twitter asked me how this proposed rules change could affect pharmacies. Well, it depends on the details of the rules change and what information is required to be disclosed in that new access report requirement but you can bet your last dollar that patients will have to sign a release saying they received such a report and pharmacies will have to file those records along with the myriad of other paperwork we already keep in boxes in overcrowded back storage rooms.
And while someone may correctly argue that few patients will request such records the burden on the pharmacies is to update systems to generate that first report. Those expenses can add up for any healthcare provider that must constantly update computer systems to comply with the latest and greatest government intervention into the healthcare system. But do these changes really protect anyone? And at what cost to the system? I think the answers to those questions might reveal that we don’t need any more regulations to follow or forms to generate to protect a patient’s right to privacy.
So a note to the HHS: drop the access report requirement proposal please. The animal that is HIPAA is already big enough. We don’t need to feed that regulatory monster any more than it is now. Perhaps the government needs a reminder like the ones you see as you walk into any zoo in the country. You know, the sign that simply says Don’t feed the animals!
The Redheaded Pharmacist
The Redheaded Pharmacist has been working full time in retail pharmacy for more than a decade. He is in his mid 30s, and, yes, he has red hair.
Disclaimer: This blog represents the opinions of the author and the author alone. It does not represent any pharmacy group or organization. I also will leave out or change the names of patients/customers to protect their privacy and comply with government regulations regarding patient privacy rights and personal information.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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