Is Xytex a health care provider as defined by American law (HIPAA)?
A. HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, is a complex law that, in large part, ensures privacy of electronic exchange of personal health information (PHI) between health care providers, with insurance companies and also with providers of business services, such as accounting. The law requires specific duties of “covered entities: (e.g. physicians, health plans) and service companies that the law calls “business associates.” Since there are substantial federal penalties for failure to comply with HIPAA, it is important to clarify the relationship of independent gamete banks to covered entities. Let us cut to the chase by quoting from the Federal Register: “We delete from the definition of ‘health care’ activities related to the procurement or banking of blood, sperm, organs or any other tissue for administration to patients” (65 FR 82572). This is a pretty clear statement that gamete banks are not “health care providers,” i.e. “covered entities.” The re
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- Is Xytex a health care provider as defined by American law (HIPAA)?
