The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is an act of compliance rules designed to make medical insurance more manageable for workers, ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to medical insurance and insulate the privacy of identifiable patient health records.
Enacted in 1996, its provisions are enforced by the Federal government's Office of Civil Rights. The HIPAA Act has an effect on every patient, medical professional and caregiver.
One important impact of the HIPAA Act is the Privacy Rule. This rule protects the confidentiality of the health information of every consumer. The Security Rule also sets specifications specially designed to address the area of the security of electronic health information. It certifies what should and shouldn't be done and whom is allowed to access patient transcripts in any form. The act also created a system to analyze issues related to patient safety events. It helps workers and patients be confident all medical records are properly protected.
All medical providers handling or sending patient information and all companies that pay for the all or part of a patient's care must adhere to the HIPAA Act by federal regulation. The safeguards take time to put in place and some events where patient records are exposed may still occur. Those will be addressed and corrected. Once the safeguards are in place they are easy to follow and they ensure patient records are secure and health care workers aren't at fault should a patient's medical information somehow leak out.
The ramifications for non-compliance or violating HIPAA rules are severe. They include fines, lawsuits, and in some particularly egregious cases, incarceration. The goal is to set a clear policy regarding working with a patient's health information in a medical office. The Office of Health and Human Services and the Office of Civil Rights will perform a series of audits designed to help healthcare professionals understand what standards are required and identify areas where the individual or facility needs to improve. This information will be used to create a report and policy changes related to better HIPAA conformity.
Patients have a right to know who accesses their medical portfolio. Signing a HIPAA permission form allows medical personnel to share your records as needed. You retain the right to know with whom it was shared. Medical staff signs an agreement acknowledging their knowledge of HIPAA and pledge to uphold it under penalty of law.
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