American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) Practice Exam

How did portions of HITECH strengthen HIPAA rules?

1. By promoting patient privacy over security

2. By addressing privacy and security concerns with electronic health data

3. By standardizing patient information

4. By allowing wider access to health information

The correct answer is: By addressing privacy and security concerns with electronic health data

The correct choice highlights how the HITECH Act directly addressed significant privacy and security concerns related to electronic health information. HITECH was enacted to promote the adoption of health information technology, particularly electronic health records (EHRs), while simultaneously enhancing and reinforcing the existing HIPAA regulations. By addressing these privacy and security issues, HITECH introduced various provisions that mandated stricter compliance requirements for health information management entities. For instance, it emphasized the need for stronger safeguards around electronic health records and created breach notification requirements that compel healthcare organizations to inform affected individuals in the event of a data breach. This integration of enhanced security protocols into HIPAA’s framework plays a critical role in protecting patient data and ensuring that confidentiality is maintained even as the use of technology becomes more prevalent in healthcare. The other options do not encompass the broad range of reforms and improvements that HITECH brought to HIPAA. While promoting patient privacy is important, the focus of HITECH was primarily on enhancing both privacy and security, particularly in the realm of electronic data management. Standardizing patient information and allowing wider access to health information are also significant in their own right but do not capture the essence of how HITECH strengthened the existing HIPAA rules.