Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Information privacy compliance in the healthcare industry

Information privacy compliance in the healthcare industry Purpose – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is US legislation aimed at protecting patient information privacy, but it imposes a significant burden on healthcare employees, especially since the privacy provisions are still evolving and healthcare organizations are still struggling to meet compliance criteria. This study seeks to illuminate characteristics of both the environment (organization) and the individual (healthcare professional) and their relevant influence on compliance intentions by leveraging theories from the domains of social psychology, management, and information systems. Design/methodology/approach – A study of 208 healthcare professionals located at healthcare facilities throughout the USA were surveyed as to their perceptions regarding HIPAA compliance and the underlying organizational and individual factors that influence said compliance. Findings – The findings indicate that perceptions of organizational support and self‐efficacy (SE) leading to HIPAA compliance vary based on organizational and occupational characteristics. Furthermore, these perceptions of organizational support and SE explain some of the differences in their intent to comply with this legislation. Research limitations/implications – For healthcare managers, the findings of this research may serve to validate HIPAA compliance initiatives. Through increased attention and resources dedicated to providing a supportive environment for HIPAA compliance, healthcare managers can increase the likelihood of compliance success by improving employee SE. Originality/value – This paper represents the first empirical study to account for environmental factors and their influence on individual intentions to comply with HIPAA. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Information Management & Computer Security Emerald Publishing

Information privacy compliance in the healthcare industry

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/information-privacy-compliance-in-the-healthcare-industry-rYSCfx031Z

References (67)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0968-5227
DOI
10.1108/09685220810862715
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is US legislation aimed at protecting patient information privacy, but it imposes a significant burden on healthcare employees, especially since the privacy provisions are still evolving and healthcare organizations are still struggling to meet compliance criteria. This study seeks to illuminate characteristics of both the environment (organization) and the individual (healthcare professional) and their relevant influence on compliance intentions by leveraging theories from the domains of social psychology, management, and information systems. Design/methodology/approach – A study of 208 healthcare professionals located at healthcare facilities throughout the USA were surveyed as to their perceptions regarding HIPAA compliance and the underlying organizational and individual factors that influence said compliance. Findings – The findings indicate that perceptions of organizational support and self‐efficacy (SE) leading to HIPAA compliance vary based on organizational and occupational characteristics. Furthermore, these perceptions of organizational support and SE explain some of the differences in their intent to comply with this legislation. Research limitations/implications – For healthcare managers, the findings of this research may serve to validate HIPAA compliance initiatives. Through increased attention and resources dedicated to providing a supportive environment for HIPAA compliance, healthcare managers can increase the likelihood of compliance success by improving employee SE. Originality/value – This paper represents the first empirical study to account for environmental factors and their influence on individual intentions to comply with HIPAA.

Journal

Information Management & Computer SecurityEmerald Publishing

Published: Mar 21, 2008

Keywords: Privacy; Health services sector; Legislation; Communications technologies; United States of America

There are no references for this article.