Thursday, July 9, 2009

Basics Facts about HIPAA

HIPAA touches nearly every aspect of modern medicine. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that any company dealing with healthcare services complies with the rules and regulations of HIPAA.

Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996 to set a national standard for electronic transfers of health data. Simultaneously, Congress saw the need to address growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data. The task of writing rules on privacy eventually fell to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). After several modifications, DHHS issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

The Privacy Rule was effective on April 14, 2003, for most health care providers, health plans, and health care clearing houses. The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, referred to as HIPAA, contains many elements dealing with a broad range of health related issues, including patient privacy and security standards.

HIPAA applies to “covered entities”, including:

*Health plans
*HMO’s, health insurers, group health plans including employee welfare benefit plans
*Health Care Clearinghouses
*An entity that processes health information going from a health care provider to a payer
*Certain Health Care Providers
*Those who use computers to transmit health claims information

The privacy regulations were released to implement requirements of the administrative simplification section of HIPAA, requiring:

*Standardization of electronic patient health, administrative and financial data
*Unique health identifiers for individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers
*Security standards protecting the confidentiality and integrity of “individually identifiable health information”, past, present and future

However, the organizations not covered under HIPAA. Some of them are:

*Life insurance companies
*Workers Compensation
*Agencies that deliver Social Security and welfare benefits
*Automobile insurance plans that include health benefits
*Internet self-help sites
*Those who collect health data you give voluntarily for surveys or research projects
*Those who conduct screenings at pharmacies, shopping centers, hometown fairs, or other public places for blood pressure, cholesterol, spinal alignment, and so on.
*Researchers who obtain health data directly from health care providers
*Law enforcement agencies

HIPAA touches nearly every aspect of modern medicine. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that any company dealing with healthcare services complies with the rules and regulations of HIPAA.

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