Assignment: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Technology

Assignment: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Technology

Imagine that you are a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with a new client who needs an opinion on the most advantageous capital structure of a new corporation. Your client formed the corporation in question to provide technology to the medical profession to facilitate compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Your client is very excited because of the ability to secure several significant contracts with enough capital.

Use the Internet and Strayer Library to research the advantages and disadvantages of debt for capital formation versus equity for capital formation of a corporation. Prepare a formal letter to the client using the six (6) step tax research process in Chapter 1 that was demonstrated in Appendix A on page 7 of your textbook as a guide.

Assignment: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Technology

Write a one to two (1-2) page letter in which you:

Compare the tax advantages of debt versus equity capital formation of the corporation for
the client.
Recommend to the client whether he / she should use debt or equity for capital formation of the new corporation, based on your research. Provide a rationale for the response.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Questions To Consider

Why was the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established?

The focus of the statute is to create confidentiality systems within and beyond healthcare facilities.
The goal of keeping protected health information private.

Whom does HIPAA cover?

All persons working in a healthcare facility or private office
Students
Non-patient care employees
Health plans (e.g., insurance companies)
Billing companies
Electronic medical record companies

What are basic HIPAA goals?

To limit the use of protected health information to those with a “need to know.”
To penalize those who do not comply with confidentiality regulations.

What health information is protected?

Any health care information with an identifier that links a specific patient to healthcare information (name, social security number, telephone number, email address, street address, among others)

Assignment: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Technology

Differentiate between HIPAA privacy rules, use and disclosure of information?

Use: How information is used within a healthcare facility
Disclosure: How information is shared outside a health care facility
Privacy rules: Patients must give signed consent for the use of their personal information or disclosure

What are the legal exceptions when health care professionals can breach confidentiality without permission?

Gunshot wound
Stab wound
Injuries sustained in a crime
Child/Elderly abuse
Infectious, communicable or reportable diseases

What types of data does HIPAA protect?

Written, paper, spoken, or electronic data
Transmission of data within and outside a health care facility
Applies to anyone or any institution involved with the use of healthcare-related data
Data size does not matter

What types of electronic devices must facility security systems protect?

Both hardware and software….

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.