The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that takes its name from provisions allowing workers and their families to continue their health insurance when they change or lose their jobs (portability) while strengthening enforcement of federal laws against healthcare fraud (accountability).
It also provides a method of making
business practices (billing, claims, computer systems, and
communication) uniform so that providers and payers can more
easily exchange information and work with one another
(administrative simplification).
The purpose of HIPAA's privacy requirements is to:
Restrict the unwarranted disclosure of patient health information (PHI).
Give patients greater control over access to their personal health information, including specific information that can be disclosed, to whom, and for what purpose it may be used.
Enable providers to use the patient's health information to provide services to meet their obligation to the patient and regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
Protected Health Information (PHI) is defined as individually identifiable
health information that is transmitted or maintained in any form or medium
(written, electronic, recorded and spoken) by covered entities or their
contractors. PHI relates to past, present or future medical or mental condition of the patient; the provision of healthcare and treatment to the patient and; past, present or future submission of claims for treatment.
Health information becomes "protected" when it is combined with any piece of information that could identify who that person is. Examples of health information include conversations between physicians, images, written records, insurance information, and demographics. HIPAA does not protect health information located in personnel records, or at federally funded schools or colleges. Excluded from the definition of covered information is health information that has been "de-identified" by removing, redacting, coding, encrypting or otherwise eliminating or concealing all individually identifiable information.
"The federal privacy regulation empowers patients by guaranteeing them access to their medical records, giving them more control over how their protected health information is used and disclosed, and providing a clear avenue of recourse if their medical privacy is compromised." (quote excerpted from Department of Health & Human Services News Release, August 9, 2002) |
