Question

The HIPAA Security Rule is a critical document for Health care Information Technology professionals to understand and support. Review the HIPAA Security Rule and discuss:

(1) importance of access controls in addition to audit controls,

(2) what “emergency access procedures” mean under the Access Control standard,

(3) how role-based access controls meet the HIPAA Privacy Rule Minimum Necessary standard,

(4) what form of authentication best meets the Person or Entity Authentication standard for different healthcare applications.

Answer 1

1). Importance of access controls in addition to audit controls:

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established several privacy rules and regulations for healthcare professionals about the patient confidentially and transferring their information through electronic communications.

According to HIPAA standards, the electronic information must be protected, and its access must be restricted. Only the authorized persons must be allowed to access the patient information. The following items must be taken into account when considering the access of patient information:

• The system activity must be traced to a particular user
• Determining the access control capability with EPHI (electronic protected health information)