Health Law, Regulation, and Policy Paper

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA Act) Student’s Name Institution  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA Act) Relationship between Law and Policy in Health Care There is a strong relationship between law and policy in the health care sector. The health care laws helps in the setting of the long term care policies within the health care institutions. The hospitals depends on the US congress to pass laws that will guide the formulation of relevant policies by the health departments and agencies. HIPPA defines the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act created in an effort to form a national approach to be implemented by the stakeholders in the different health care organization’s including the doctors and hospitals among others whereby personal medical data and information is preserved (McGraw, 2013). HIPPA provides the patients with the right and power to view their medical information and records and demand for changes when the medical data is wrong. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulates how hospitals hold, disclose, collect and use personal patient information. The Act also regulates how patients can correct and access the information. Hospitals are required to create policies and adopt them under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. McGraw (2013) outlines that the policies should limit the collection of personal patient information to only those needed to complete specific activities. Personal patient information can be collected through several channels that include meetings, websites, telephones, and social media accounts. Legislative versus Institutional Policies in Health Care In health care industry, there is a clear difference between institutional and legislative policies that controls the health care activities and processes. Both the legislative policies and institutional policies are important in stimulating quality management in healthcare institutions. Institutional policies can either be mandatory or voluntary. The voluntary policies encourage institutions to make their own policies in accordance to current laws. Institutional policies are therefore flexible and allow the institutions to operate on their own terms (Sarkar & Bates, 2014). On the other hand, legislative policies are more rigid on their policies which are all mandatory. Institutions are required to adhere to all healthcare rule laws and legislative policies. Legislative policies are mostly associated with government healthcare systems while institutional policies affect private health care institutions. In institutional policies, the responsibility of training all employees is left to the administration with no government intervention. Institutions that are government mandated however, constantly deal with change in policies by the government and all responsibilities undertaken must be government approved (Terry, 2014). Even though all the policies cater for oversight and evaluation of services rendered in healthcare institutions, legislative policies are stricter and more permanent. Institutional policies are subject to change by the institutional committee from time to time. Influence of Politics on Health care Regulations and Policies In the passing of the health care regulations and policies, the U.S congress has the overall power and thus, it brings about...

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