Question

1. Discuss how HIPAA privacy requirements might differ from state laws about confidentiality of health information. Discuss when either HIPAA requirements or state requirements might prevail.

Answer 1

Comparing to state Law, HIPPA does not set any standards of rules for the protection of patient health information. Always there is a controversy for the providers and insurers in following of either state law or HIPPA standards. Moreover, the state laws differ from state to state. So HHS create a framework for HIPPA provision and state law can be followed if a specific area is not covered under HIPPA. Some of the exceptions to the state laws include reporting of disease, protection of the public, prevention of fraud, and regulation of insurance. HIPPA concentrates more on Consent forms whereas some state laws like California does not require the disclosure of consent for treatment. In the same way, HIPPA requires patient's authentication for sharing of health information, whereas California state Law provides information to the public agency for research purposes without any authentication. There is no specific law in HIPPA for HIV testing. HIPPA inhibits information access to the patient. Still, there is an overlap between the state laws and HIPPA. In most cases, the HIPPA requirements are more prevail than state laws. Working against the HIPPA rules will result in penalties to the organization.