HIV and AIDS and HIPAA

Hi,

I am a new member and if I posted in the wrong forum I am sorry. Any help with these questions or were I might go to get the correct answers will be greatly appreciated.

I am entering into the medical field and need to get a better understanding of handling PHI. The following questions are an important part of ensuring that a medical practice or a facillity is complying with the rules and regulations set forth from federal and state laws, along with HIPAA. I would appreciate any imput you might have on this topic. Thank you.

When working in the medical field and dealing with patients' that have HIV and AIDS why would information of this kind be more sensitive than other types of health conditions? With this in mind what would the social, legal, and ethical ramification of improper information disclosure of sensitive topics like this be for a medical practice or facility?

I am also having a hard time understand ICD-9-CM codes. I understand that a general medical examination is V70.0, but would this code be used for "detailed examination"? Do these two terms mean the samething? what would the codes be for the procedures "screening blood panel" and "pathology services"? Thank you so much for your time.

[ILADVOCATE]

Complex as some of those questions would have to be addressed to another doctor. I did find the following information about that one criteria though from the site itself which might have some answers to your questions:
http://www.icd9data.com/2006/Volume1/V01-V85/V70-V85/V70/V70.0.htm
I did work as a peer counselor for people with disabilities though before I acquired my physical disability and had to follow the HIPAA regulations. The reason for the specific regulations regarding the disclosure of HIV status is because of the societal stigma around it. Thankfully as awareness of it and treatment has advanced this should be less of a problem but the regulations remain neccessary for that reason.

[calhunkenlanmanbrogavoliv]

Thank you for the information. Like I said I am learning about how HIPAA violations affect the medical billing process, and the questions I asked do seem complex, but is important to know and understand when entering into the health care field. I am sure the link you provided will help out a lot, so thank you for that also. Hopefully I will get a better understanding about HIPAA and the implications of patients' that have sensitive diseases such as HIV and AIDS.