What is HIPAA?
HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Under this rule, health insurers, certain health-care providers, and health-care clearinghouses must establish procedures and mechanisms to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information. Patients will have access to their medical records and more control over how their personal health information is used and disclosed. The HIPAA Privacy Rule is a federal regulation which creates national standards consisting of administrative steps, policies, and procedures to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal and private health information. The Privacy Rule guarantees patients access to their medical records, giving them more control over how their information is used and disclosed. The rule provides procedures to take if a patient’s medical privacy is compromised. The Privacy Rule requires health plans, pharmacies, doctors and other covered enti
HIPAA, or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a federal health benefits law passed in 1996, effective July 1, 1997, which restricts pre-existing condition exclusion periods to ensure portability of health care coverage between plans, group and individual; require guaranteed issue and renewal of insurance coverage; prohibit plans from charging individuals higher premiums, copayments, and/or deductibles based on health status. The legislation also establishes a four-year medical savings account (MSA) demonstration project. The Act mandates standards for electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions and code sets, establishes uniform health care identifiers for providers, health plans, and employers.. Compliance to HIPAA requires the use of ANSI ASC X12N (Version 4010) transaction standards and implementation guides. The final rules for transactions , code sets, privacy and security were published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2000. The compliance date of this
