Hipaa

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), was implemented by the Congress in order to improve access to health insurance, to promote standardization and efficiency in the healthcare industry, and to offer nationally standardized protections for individual health information (Kumekawa, 2005)

The HIPAA Privacy Rule

The HIPAA Privacy Rule was created so that the patients’ health information is protected and released only with the patients’ authorization. The protected health information is information which identifies a patient, or can be used to identify a patient, and relates to (1) a person’s past, present or future health condition, (2) the provision of healthcare, or (3) the payment for the provision of healthcare. Protected information can include things such as names, addresses, birthdates, SSN, and the records from a patient’s visit to a doctor (Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, 2013).

Who Does HIPAA Effect?

The Department of Health and Human Services can only enforce HIPAA-related penalties against "covered entities" as they are defined by the regulations. The regulations define covered entities as healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses who engage in any number of electronic transactions. A healthcare provider under HIPAA is a person or company that furnishes, bills or is paid for health care. A number of employers have also found that they are covered entities under HIPAA because of their activities running a group health plan for their employees. Finally, there are many companies or individuals that provide services to covered entities that require the use of protected health information. These companies or individuals are called business associates. While they are not liable for penalties under HIPAA, they will find that many business contracts will have to be renegotiated and business practices changed to reflect the privacy requirements...