What Do You Need To Know About HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that was passed as a federal law in 1996 helps in providing health insurance cover to individuals and their families even when there is discontinuation of employment or when they lose their jobs. Apart from this HIPAA also aims at safeguarding and protecting all confidential information of patients.

6 Basic Things That You Need To Know About HIPAA

All health care providers and health insurance companies that are classified as covered entities as per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will need to comply with the various provisions of the Act. The health care providers include hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses, laboratories, pharmacies and nursing homes. There are some organizations that do have the medical records of patients but are not classified as covered entities according to HIPAA. These include life insurance companies, schools and other state and law enforcement agencies that are exempt. The patients have the right to be informed about how their protected information will be accessed and used. Apart from this the patients can also demand copies of their medical records. If there are any changes to be made to the medical records a request can be made to hospitals or clinics where the records are stored. The changes will need to be made within thirty days of making the request. The confidential information of patients can be shared by the various health care providers for treatment purposes. If the information is to be shared for any other purpose, it is important that there is a written or oral authorization from the patient to access the medical records. The patient can deny sharing of the records with family and friends by making a written request. The authorization to access the medical records will not be required under certain circumstances that are specified by HIPAA. The exemption from authorizations is when this protected information is required by federal agencies for the purpose of law. There can be civil and criminal penalties for violation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The penalties can be fine or imprisonment or both depending on the nature of the violation. The fines are usually limited for a single offence and repeated offenders will have to pay a hefty fine subject to the maximum that has been fixed by HIPAA. The imprisonment period will also vary depending on the extent of the violation.

All organizations that are classified as covered entities as per Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act will need to train their employees for proper compliance of the Act. It is the responsibility of the employer to provide training.

There are many amendments that are made to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and individuals who will be accessing the protected information of patients will need to be aware of these changes. The amendments that are made will need to be distributed to employees as newsletters or through any other medium that will make it easier for them to become aware about them.