Barriers of HIPAA Regulation to Implementation of Health Services Research

Authors

Jay J. Shen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Linda F. Samson
Elmer L. Washington, Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center
Phyllis Johnson
Constance Edwards
Amy Malone

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Publication Title

Journal of Medical Systems

Volume

30

Issue

1

First page number:

65

Last page number:

74

Abstract

Although many perspectives on the impact of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) on health services research have been wide spread, little empirical evidence has been reported about HIPAA-related barriers during the implementation of research projects. Using three cases of health services research projects, this study examined practical barriers created by HIPAA regulation. During the stage of implementation of the three projects, we experienced some HIPAA-related concerns, previously raised in the field of health services research. We found that technically complicated consent forms and privacy protection forms as well as socially-sensitive clinical conditions make patients less willing to participate in research projects; concerns about safety of patient medical information makes health organizations more hesitant to let researchers have access to the patient’s information, especially through electronic transfer; more restrictive IRB processes and challenging patient recruiting processes make health services researchers reluctant to go through the process; and as a result, they may compromise with the scientific soundness of the project. Overall, HIPAA complicates the research process and requires more resources and longer time to conduct research.

Keywords

Consent form; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (United States); Health Services – Research; HIPAA; Human experimentation in medicine; Informed consent (Medical law); IRB; Research

Disciplines

Health Services Research

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Shen, J. J., Samson, L. F., Washington, E. L., Johnson, P., Edwards, C., Malone, A. (2006). Barriers of HIPAA Regulation to Implementation of Health Services Research. Journal of Medical Systems, 30(1), 65-74.