Impact of HIPAA and HITECH Regulations and Implementations on Healthcare Systems

Impact of HIPAA and HITECH Regulations and Implementations on Healthcare Systems
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Impact of HIPAA and HITECH Regulations and Implementations
Privacy has become a major issue of concern not only for governments but also for patients who are forced to entrust strangers with their private information in the process of seeking medical attention. In today’s era where patients’ data is stored and transmitted electronically, the issue of security of digital records faces stiff challenges from the users and system developers who are in the business of developing and distributing healthcare information systems. Information gathered by healthcare professionals is of significant importance not only to healthcare service providers but the government as well, which relies on the data available to make informed decisions. It is for the safety and security reasons that Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996) (HIPAA 1996) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) were put in place to safeguard and regulate the implementations of health information systems. With the emerging concerns and trends in the market, it is inevitable that HIPAA and HITECH are to have an impact on the implementations of health information systems in the healthcare setting. This paper assesses the impact of HITECH and HIPAA on the future of healthcare systems with a strict consideration on state and federal differences.
Impact of HIPAA and HITECH Regulations on Healthcare Systems for Future
The incorporation of HIPAA and HITECH into the regulation of the safety of patients’ data is expected to have a significant impact on future vendors and safety of data records. A key area of concern is on how the software developers and users of these systems are to be affected at both the state and federal level. HIPAA regulations were enacted to secure and protect healthcare information systems secure beyond the healthcare facilities (Castillo & Sirbu, 2018). Today, vendors have made a significant attempt to work across states with the goal of ensuring that they reach a significant number of clients. It has, however, turned out that many software vendors will have to take into consideration state and federal differences when it comes to the security of data stored in the systems. When developing the systems, the key point of concern is access to data. If a doctor is working in one state and has an emergency to serve in another state, the system will not allow the transfer of records, considering the security issues. Unless the hospitals use standard systems, it will be impossible for the exchange of data beyond the hospital facilities or across different states.
How HIPAA and HITECH will modify the Implementation and ongoing Use of Software Systems
It is evident that HIPAA and HITECH regulations will have a significant impact on software developers and vendors. One of the first major impacts is to slow down the progress, considering that profits always propel vendors. As a result, there is little doubt that non-complying organizations will evade the impact of these rules. According to Lord (2018), software vendors and healthcare facilitie...