What are HIPAA Laws?

What are HIPAA Laws?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. HIPAA is also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA-Public Law 104-191), effective August 21, 1996. The basic idea of HIPAA is that an individual who is a subject of individually identifiable health information should have:

Your visit to the doctor at once holds a page where you sign that you acknowledge that the doctor’s office has advised you about their compliance with HIPAA laws. Mostly, you likely read through quickly or hardly skim the authorization form before signing it. However, HIPAA laws are crucial, and they are in place to protect you from identity theft, being refused aid, and/or health insurance coverage.

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enacted in 1996. HIPAA laws made a new public standard in protecting your health information. As you see different doctors or get admitted to different hospitals, your health information should follow you. HIPAA defines the need to properly protect your health information as it runs through to these different channels. As more and more transactions are completed electronically these days, HIPAA laws focus on the security of your health information specifically through these channels.

So what does HIPAA protect? For you, HIPAA protects personally identifiable health information, such as your Social Security number, birth date, address, etc., as well as current, past, or even future physical and/or mental conditions or treatment. Such information may not be revealed except for limited uses. Information that HIPAA does not cover must specifically be personally non-identifiable. In protecting this sort of information, there is more security against identity theft and more recourse if such a thing should happen.

HIPAA also protects how health insurance companies may use your health information. These entities may use your information without your authorisation only if they are sending you information, using this information to provide the best treatment or healthcare, or collecting payment on medical expenses, among other things. If disclosure of your health information doesn’t fall into these categories, you must authorise the transfer of information in writing. Furthermore, because the government realizes that highly technical language can be a barrier in understanding your health information privacy rights, any authorization must be in plain language.

This may all seem like needless paperwork, but beyond identity theft, HIPAA laws also help those looking for health insurance coverage. Title 1 of the HIPAA laws manages the accessibility and range of health insurance policies for those without perfect health. It outlaws any health plan from creating discriminative rules to create premium rates or refuse coverage. HIPAA laws are quite extensive, but this gives you a look at how your health information is being protected and used. Your department of health should be able to give you additional information, or you can search the government’s Web site for the entire HIPAA law.