The informatics nurse specialist as privacy officer

HIPAA mandates the development of privacy and security standards, including the designation of a privacy officer responsible for the development and implementation of the policies and procedures. However, the rule does not give guidance as to the specific qualifications, job description, or details concerning policy and procedure development and implementation. The qualities and skills of informatics nurse specialists (INS), plus their commitment to patient advocacy and a professional code of ethics to ensure the privacy of confidential personal information, make the INS ideally suited to manage the processes necessary to achieve HIPAA compliance.