Changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) privacy requirements will go into effect September 23, 2013. The new rule will enhance a patient’s privacy protections, provide individuals with new rights to their health information, and strengthen the government’s ability to enforce the law. See attached for more information.
Residents in nursing homes have the same rights as everyone. However, the combination of an institutional setting and the disability can result in a loss of dignity and the absence of proper care. Consequently, Congress enacted the Nursing Home Reform Law. Basically, it requires that every nursing home resident be given whatever services are necessary to function at the highest possible level. Additionally, the law gives residents a number of specific rights: Residents have the right to be free of unnecessary physical or chemical restraints. Vests, hand mitts, seat belts and other physical restraints, and antipsychotic drugs, sedatives, and other…
Frederick, MD 
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