HIPAA; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was supposed to protect patient’s privacy from being abused by insurance companies. So a lot of confidentiality issues were addressed in the act. The result has done almost anything but help patients. What is has done is made research and communication between physicians impossible by making transfer of information illegal. One result has been to force patients to be custodians of their records and referral procedure.
Some physicians and doctors offices will no longer transfer files, records or make referrals for fear of running afoul of HIPAA rules. My father wanted another doctor to look at his X-rays and his physician’s office would not send them to another physician. They would only give the copies of his medical records personally to my father and no one else. While being very ill, unable to walk without assistance, we had to walk my father into his doctor’s office to obtain his records to get a second opinion. My father, the patient, suffered in this example because it caused delays and physical stress to have to be a currier in this case.
I am a scientist with unique skills in the diagnosis and understanding of some types of stroke and stroke complications. Prior to HIPAA I was frequently consulted by physicians as to their patients. Now many physicians are afraid to talk about their patients with me because of HIPAA compliance fears. These physicians may be impeded by not being able to obtain important cutting edge knowledge for their patients. Who suffers; the patient?
The goal of HIPAA may have been to help the patients but the patients are suffering horrendously. There are many things wrong with the American Health Care system and HIPAA is one of them.