Abstract
On average, $180 million could pay for 90,000 intensive care unit days, 225,000 regular inpatient days, or an extraordinary amount of outpatient care. Yet, that is the amount of money that the federal government, on behalf of the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, may be spending—not on health care—but to settle a healthcare lawsuit. Filed in the fall of 2000, the lawsuit claims that, due to a lack of security, the computer system at any Veterans Affairs Healthcare facility has enabled workers to access personal and medical information about any patient or employee. Although the Veterans Affairs has installed a “software patch,” one can override this and still gain access to the information. Individuals also cite that their personal information is already noted and being used for criminal activity such as opening up credit cards in their names [1].
HIPAA provisions relating to electronic transactions, security, and privacy must be integrated, not only to protect information, but also to deliver quality health care.
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Kiel, J.M. (2004). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security. In: Ball, M.J., Weaver, C.A., Kiel, J.M. (eds) Healthcare Information Management Systems. Health Informatics Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4041-7_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4041-7_30
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