Ethics committees in the rural Midwest: exploring the impact of HIPAA.
BACKGROUND
Confidentiality of personal health information is an ethical principle and a legislated mandate; however, the impact of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on ethics committees ethics committees is limited.


OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the prevalence, activity, and composition of ethics committees located in rural central and southern Illinois. Additionally, the impact of the HIPAA Officer serving on the committee is reported.


METHODS
Surveys were mailed to the "Administrator or Ethics Committee Chairperson" at rural Illinois hospitals and skilled care facilities. Survey items included committee composition and perception of HIPAA-related involvement.


RESULTS
Over one third (36.7%) of the facilities reported having formal ethics committees. Hospitals were more likely (79.3%) to have ethics committees than skilled nursing facilities (20.7%). Ethics committee members usually include an administrator, nurse, and physician. The smaller the facility (based on number of beds), the more likely it was to have a HIPAA Officer on the committee. Committees with a HIPAA Officer were more likely to be involved in monitoring and/or remediation of HIPAA privacy and security violations. Most respondents, however, did not feel the committee should be involved in these issues.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the sample size is too small to generalize, HIPAA does seem to have an effect on the issues discussed by ethics committees. Furthermore, ethics committees that include a HIPAA Officer in the membership report increased committee involvement in HIPAA related issues.
Having
Karen M
KM
School of Allied Health, College of Applied Sciences and Arts, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA. khaving@siu.edu
Hale
Dena
D
Lautar
Charla J
CJ
D017041:Ethics Committees / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D020408:Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D019035:Rural Health Services; D014481:United States