The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that was passed in 1996 helps individuals who lose jobs or change jobs continue their insurance cover. This is really helpful to the individual and their families as the health insurance cover will help them tide over any sort of medical emergency. Apart from this it also help protect any confidential information of patients by having enough safeguards in place.

5 Important Aspects Of HIPAA That You Need To Be Aware of

1. All the personal information of the patient like name, address, date of birth, social security number, phone number and details of medical treatments availed in the past are protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. All this information can be used to identify the patient easily and so there need to be enough safeguards in place to protect them.

2. There are various organizations in the health care and insurance industry that are classified as covered entities and they will need to comply with the various aspects of HIPAA. All employees of these organizations who will be handling the protected information of patients will need to be trained in the rules and regulations governing HIPAA.

3. There are some organizations that have access to the confidential information of patients but need not follow the rules and regulations stipulated by HIPAA. These organizations include law enforcement agencies, schools and life insurance companies. Apart from this state and municipal office that have access to protected information also need not follow HIPAA.

4. Patients will be able to have more control over their medical records. Apart from treatment purposes they would be able to determine who will be able to access their records and how many times these can be accessed. This will help any kind of misuse. Most of the medical records that are accessed in an unauthorized way are often used for commercial purposes.

5. The penalties that are imposed for violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act can be fines and imprisonment or both. There can be civil and criminal penalties for the violations and this will depend on the nature of the violation that is committed. Each individual violation will attract a fine and there is an annual limit set by HIPAA for repeated violations.

As more and more medical records of patients are stored using electronic devices the rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have gained a lot of significance. The various aspects of the act will help in safeguarding all protected information against misuse or abuse.

Due to HIPAA patients will also have the power to restrict the access of their medical records to family members and friends. The medical records can be accessed by federal agencies in case of a crime or due to national emergency.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have identified twelve instances where the medical records of patients can be accessed by federal and state agencies without the prior approval of the patient. Apart from these exemptions patient approval will be needed in all other instances to access the medical records of patients.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certification website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certification website http://www.hipaaexams.com/hipaa-certification.html

Author Bio: For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certification website.

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: health care organizations ,HIPAA,Health Insurance ,HIPAA Compliant,HIPAA Privacy Rule