@kurt,
Thanks for that. I agree with everything you said.
I think I am going to start calling it the Kennedy?Kassebaum Act. That sounds much more mysterious. Just the K-K Act.
Effects on clinical care
The complexity of HIPAA, combined with potentially stiff penalties for violators, can lead physicians and medical centers to withhold information from those who may have a right to it. A review of the implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that health care providers were "uncertain about their legal privacy responsibilities and often responded with an overly guarded approach to disclosing information...than necessary to ensure compliance with the Privacy rule".[40] Reports of this uncertainty continue.[43]
Costs of implementation
In the period immediately prior to the enactment of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Acts, medical centers and medical practices were charged with getting "into compliance". With an early emphasis on the potentially severe penalties associated with violation, many practices and centers turned to private, for-profit "HIPAA consultants" who were intimately familiar with the details of the legislation and offered their services to ensure that physicians and medical centers were fully "in compliance". In addition to the costs of developing and revamping systems and practices, the increase in paperwork and staff time necessary to meet the legal requirements of HIPAA may impact the finances of medical centers and practices at a time when insurance companies and Medicare reimbursement is also declining
I have a new found respect for the President. I mean how can he actually read through all this stuff, much less understand it, before signing it into law. I guess he has people who are specialists in this area, read it fully and then summarize it.
