The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), became federal law in 1996. This law was enacted to protect a patient's private medical information from being release to other people without the patient's consent. The HIPAA law also limits who can look at a patient's medical history, such as doctors, nurses, clinics or hospital where patients go to get treated for an ailment. Health insurance companies also have the right to look at patient's medical history. Under HIPAA a patient's employer, family members or other third parties are not allowed to see the patient's medical information without authorization. Between 2001 and 2003 there have been other drafts of the HIPAA law, but the final HIPAA law became effective April 14, 2003.
Medical Conversation Protected by HIPAA
Discussing any treatment plan with a dentist is protected under HIPAA.
Discussing any treatment plan with a dentist is protected under HIPAA. The dentist cannot repeat the patient's treatment plan with another dentist unless its a referral for a different service the patient's dentist does not provide.
What Is a Covered Entity
A covered entity according to HIPAA regulations is any dentist that bills and transmits patients' medical information electronically, verbally or written. Dentists that use a vendor or billing service to transfer the patient medical history are still "covered entities."
The Patient Rights
A patient has the right to see her dental records if she wishes to do so. The patient can request from a copy of her records be sent by her dentist. She also has the right to ask the dentist to make changes to her dental information, but the change in the dental records must be accurate both from the patient and dentist. If a dental record is inaccurate because the patient gave the dentist false information, this is the only time the dentist can refuse the patient's rights to their records.
Privacy Standards Made Known to Patients
Every dentist's office might be differ on how they let patients know that they follow the HIPAA regulations regarding patients dental privacy. Some dentist will give a patient a form informing them of how they practice HIPAA guidelines in their office and require that the patient signs the form in the office. Other dentists might mail the form to the patient after or before his appointment. As long the dentist informs the patient about the office's privacy policies either method is fine.
Dentist Office Policies
All dentists that are compliant must draft a privacy policy detailing how they will implement the HIPAA regulations in their office. Once the dentist writes the final draft of the policy, she must post it in her office where it can be viewed by staff. The dentist also has to make sure that every staff member is trained in the privacy laws, understand the privacy guidelines and follow it at all times.
Getting the Patients Authorization
The dentist needs the patient's written authorization to release his medical history. The authorization that the dentist requires the patient to sign must state how the information will be used, who it will be disclosed to and an expiration date for the authorization.
Fines and Complaints
Any dentist that is caught violating any of the HIPAA laws can be fined up to $100 for each violation. A dentist that sells a patient's information without his signed consent and sold it to make a profit will face up to ten years in prison along with a fine up to $250,000.
A patient who feels their dentist violated his privacy in any way can send a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The Office of Civil Rights is a department within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
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