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Show HN: Self-Published Book – Health Data Privacy, HIPAA, and COVID-19

24 points by anconia ↗ HN
I just self-published a book that is a brief guide to health information data privacy, the HIPAA Privacy Rule, and COVID-19.

I'm an attorney and web developer and hope you find this helpful.

Here are some links:

- Sample Excerpt (PDF): https://www.dropbox.com/s/v2p2ia224u5efqx/%5Bexcerpt%5D%20Healthtech_HIPAA_March_2020_unique.pdf?dl=0

- Paperback (on Amazon.com): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086B9QHBL/

- Kindle (on Amazon.com): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0868VXCGH

Please let me know of any feedback.

If you buy the book, please know that 100% of the profits will be donated to restaurant workers furloughed without pay during this time. (I once worked at Domino's Pizza before law school.)

14 comments

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mtreis86
The font in that excerpt is quite large and contains a third of the pages in the book. Why publish this rather than make a blog post with the full text and a place to donate?
anconia
It was easier to make a PDF and publish than create into a website ... also, I used a font size that makes it easy to read.
mtreis86
Thanks for making it - the more correct information people can get their hands on, the better.
creyes
I appreciate the consolidated information - but at a time where people are trying to help / donate resources for COVID-19, putting this behind a paywall seems out of place. A donation button might be easier? I'll make a website for you for free if it opens up that information, feel free to shoot me a DM.

Also I'm not sure this is covered in the book, but HHS has relaxed some of it's HIPAA rules because of COVID-19. Specifically telehealth providers (think Google Hangouts) are going to have some leeway as we get through this pandemic. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/e...

anconia
This topic is covered in this book.

I cover the February 2020 and March 2020 notifications from HHS.

dig1
If I may ask, what it takes to publish a book like this? Obviously, beside personal time invested in writing, how hard is to get in touch with publisher, talk with them about specific topic, have it approved and reviewed and so on? Do you have to invest own money as well?

How much publisher is inclined to work with you when you want to donate 100% of the profits?

CapriciousCptl
From the excerpt: > We worked hard to ensure that this text is accurate, but there is no guarantee that this text is the most up to date and error free.

I'm sorry to say this, particularly because you did a lot of work here. And it's probably unfair, even, since you're just one person taking on this sort of thing. But it seems to me that you won't stand behind your work, which means I can't trust it. NOLO, for instance, might have similar language in its books. But NOLO already has a reputation for quality.

anconia
That's standard boilerplate language that I put in every book. I used the same book template for this project.

In this book, the information is the most up-to-date and on point. I'm following the U.S. federal government (specifically, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) for updates about HIPAA.

bmagrann
For anyone looking to expedite HIPAA compliance, we're using https://www.accountablehq.com

They walk you through all the checklists, policies, and procedures required to meet the standards. Support has been extremely helpful.

saviorand
That's a great idea to donate proceeds to restaurant workers, though not sure how much it will help. Wonder if it will prevent some authors from publishing health data that shouldn't be published