Regulatory and legislative issues paper - Essay Example

“Thousands of US organizations must comply with the… Security Rule. The Security Rule is a key part of HIPAA -- federal legislation that was passed into law in August 1996. The overall purpose of the act is to enable better access to health insurance, reduce fraud and abuse, and lower the overall cost of health care in the United States” (HIPAA, 2010). The overall common estimation is that the Security Rule has affected healthcare positively, leading to greater client confidentiality and better information access for healthcare facilities.

However, cost is a major issue in implementing new technology covered by the rule, such as the establishment of electronic health records. It is important to provide a general overview of the HIPAA Security Rule, its strengths and drawbacks, and how it is being implemented, and reacted against, in the present. databases, and communications. Patients are expected, and have been shown to, have a greater quality of healthcare because of the rule, because due to it, information and healthcare data is delivered faster, better, and more conveniently.

Although some state that the rule is excessive, because the government would have to provide for client confidentiality with or without the law, others state that, “The real value of HIPAAs transaction standards is the reduction of operational expenses and fragmentation in the health care industry” (Zimmerman, 2010). This shows the law to be cost effective, and it is also gathered to be cost-effective from the standpoint of government costs for social welfare programs like Medicare. Although cost effectiveness and better, safer, faster patient information seem to be key advantages to the HIPAA Security Rule, there are also possible drawbacks as this law extends over time.

For example, although ultimately the new technology covered by the rule is designed to make facilities more