Before the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was introduced many people were apprehensive that their personal health care information could be accessed by unauthorized people. HIPAA was enacted in 1996 to help ease the concerns of patients as to who could access and share the confidential information of patients. Individuals or organizations that handle this confidential information are entrusted with the task of protecting it and they would be penalized if there is any violation.

There are various penalties for violating the provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and these can be severe. The penalties could be in the form of very heavy fines or termination of medical license or loss of business, if the offence had been repeated several times. There is a national standard procedure as to who can access this vital piece of information and of there is any violation, you can report it to the concerned authorities.

How To Report Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act Violations

-The U.S Department of Health and Human Services website has a form that can be downloaded for reporting any violation of privacy rights of the patients. It is not necessary that you use the form to make a complaint but the entire process of reporting a violation will be simplified when you use it.

– It is important that you mention all details pertaining to the violation so that your complaint gets processed at the earliest. The various details that need to be included in the complaint are name, address of the organization that had violated the provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It would be advisable to give a brief description of the violation that has been done by the organization.

– The complaint against the violation that has been committed should be reported within 180 days of the said offence.

– You can mail or fax the form that contains all the details of the violation to the Office for Civil Rights in your area. You can also choose to make the complaint electronically through an email.

It would be advisable to learn about the provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act before deciding to make a complaint. It would be difficult to determine whether your privacy rights have been violated if you are unaware about the regulations that are stipulated in the Act.

Before making a complaint, it would be best if you could talk with the designated privacy officer of the organization that you feel has violated your privacy rights. You can submit all the information to them so that they are able to redress your complaints effectively.

There are very severe penalties for breach of privacy rights of any patient. Depending on the state that you live in there can be different procedures for reporting a violation and it would be best if you become aware about them. Report the violation in the area where it has occurred so that suitable action is taken against it. Print out the above info and keep it on hand for your staff.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA website http://www.hipaaexams.com.

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

Category: Advice
Keywords: HIPAA Compliance,Health Insurance