DNP Prospectus Education to Increase Nurse’s Compliance with HIPPA GuidelinesNursing Staff Noncompliance with HIPAA Guidelines

DNP Prospectus Education to Increase Nurse’s Compliance with HIPPA GuidelinesNursing Staff Noncompliance with HIPAA Guidelines

Oluyemisi Adedotun
NURS 8700 – DNP Prospectus
A00334501

 
Prospectus: Nursing Staff Noncompliance with HIPAA Guidelines
Problem Statement
Patients have the right to privacy and confidentiality when receiving treatment, which gives health professionals the mandate of protecting patient information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 helped modernize information flow while ensuring the confidentiality of personally identifiable information stored by health service providers and health insurance companies (Lam, Simpson, & Lau, 2019). HIPAA introduces a set of guidelines to which health professionals must adhere to ensure patient information protection. All health professionals are responsible for following HIPAA guidelines or face risks of penalties, ranging from $100 to $50,000 per individual and up to $1.5 million for institutions when they fail to comply (Lam, Simpson, & Lau, 2019). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Act of 2009 further increased the financial risk of organization violations of HIPPA guidelines. More compliance efforts are needed at most health care centers in risky areas like management of information access, control of access, and how to protect the patient’s health care information. -(Withrow, Scott C, 2010).However, nursing staff often fail to comply with the HIPAA guidelines, exposing patient information to third-party access. Noncompliance usually has devastating impacts on patients because it discloses confidential information to third parties, which goes against their rights. (Chen, J. Q., & Benusa, A. (2017).
All health professionals are responsible for following HIPAA guidelines or face risks of penalties, ranging from $100 to $50,000 per individual and up to $1.5 million for institutions when they fail to comply (Lam, Simpson, & Lau, 2019). However, nursing staff often fail to comply with the HIPAA guidelines, exposing patient information to third-party access. Noncompliance usually has devastating impacts on patients because it discloses confidential information to third parties, which goes against their rights. (Chen, J. Q., & Benusa, A. (2017).
Cannon & Caldwell (2016) noted that a significant number of nursing staff lack knowledge about HIPAA guidelines, which creates a high possibility of violation of HIPPA laws (Angela Gwaltney, 9/9/2020) . The existing gap in nursing practice that will serve as the focus for this doctoral project is the lack of knowledge among nursing staff on the importance of complying with HIPAA guidelines- Cannon & Caldwell (2016). The nurse educator communicated that there had been incidents of staff noncompliance with HIPAA guidelines as noted by the client’s and family members’ complaints (Communication with Nurse Educator, 9/9/2020). She reported that post-discharge surveys of patients identify that they are not comfortable with how the staff protects their personal information. For example, reports identify that patients’ family members overhear conversations with the team, revealing personal information about patients. She also reported that the facility had experienced significant staff turnover and that t. The new nurses are not knowledgeable about the HIPPA guidelines. This project aims to address this gap by developing a staff education program to increase the nurse’s knowledge about HIPPA guidelines, which can maximize their compliance with these guidelines to improve their care practices.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Act of 2009 further increased the financial risk of organization violations of HIPPA guidelines. More compliance efforts are needed at most health care centers in risky areas like management of information access, control of access, and how to protect the patient’s health care information. -(Withrow, Scott C, 2010).

Practice-Focused Question(s)
The purpose of the DNP project is to develop an education program to increase nurses’ knowledge about HIPAA guidelines and their responsibility related to protecting health information privacy and security. The nurse educator communicated that the facility is experiencing frequent nurse turnover. The new nurses are not knowledgeable about and are not compliant with the HIPPA guidelines as reported by the patients and family members.
The practice-focused Question is: Will an education program educate nurses about HIPAA guidelines increase their nurses’ knowledge about their responsibilities related to protecting their patients’ health information privacy and security.?

Social Change
HIPAA guidelines are implemented to enable that health information like access, storage of information, and the transmission of personal information are is kept confidential. – (Chen, J. Q., &