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What are HIPAA Laws?
Your visit to the doctor now contains a page where you sign that you acknowledge that the
physician's office has notified you about their compliance with HIPAA laws. More often
than not, you probably read through quickly or barely skim the authorization form before
signing it. However, HIPAA laws are important, and they
are in place to protect you from identity theft, being denied care, and/or health insurance
coverage.
HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enacted in 1996. HIPAA
laws created a new national standard in protecting your health information. As you see different
physicians or become admitted to different hospitals, your health information should
follow you. HIPAA delineates the need to properly protect your health information as it flows
through to these different channels.
As more and more transactions are completed electronically these days, HIPAA laws focus
on the protection 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
disclosed except for specific uses. Information that HIPAA does not cover must specifically
be personally non-identifiable. In protecting this sort of information, there is more protection
against identity theft and more recourse if such a thing should happen.
HIPAA also protects how health insurance providers may use your health information. These entities
may use your information without your authorization only if they are sending you information,
using this information to provide the best treatment or health care, or collecting payment
on medical expenses, among other things. If disclosure of your health information does
not fall under these categories, you must authorize the transfer of information in writing.
Furthermore, because the government understands 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 unnecessary paperwork, but beyond identity theft, HIPAA laws also
help those looking for health insurance coverage. Title 1 of the HIPAA laws oversees the availability
and range of health insurance plans for those without perfect health. It outlaws any health
insurance plan from creating discriminatory rules to create premium rates or deny 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 further information, or you can search
the government's Web site for the entire HIPAA law.