The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in the year 1996 and covered several aspects of healthcare insurance. Rules were laid down and had to be followed by covered entities like healthcare providers like nursing homes and doctors, and health plans which comprised of insurance companies and company health plans.

But what these laws expect out of the covered entities will make little sense to you. Also you will be at odds to understand the many HIPAA laws which can seem rather unwieldy to the untrained eyes. The fact is that you want to know only those parts of the vast HIPAA provisions that are relevant to you and that too in simple and non-technical terms.

The following 4 points will tell you exactly how HIPAA affects you.

– Insurance Access: Under the laws of HIPAA, when you change your job or even lose a job due to unforeseen circumstances, you will not be denied insurance cover. The provisions make it easier to move to a new plan and continue to receive coverage when there is change in your family or marital status. Furthermore, when enrolling for a new plan your exclusion period can get reduced by taking into account the credit of earlier coverage. In case of any pre-existing conditions, records of only the last six months can be accessed and coverage cannot be delayed for more than twelve months. Also you will not be discriminated on the basis of genetic factors.

– Privacy of Personal Information: Your insurance company and nursing home employees have your complete health information with them. A notice of privacy practices from them will brief you on how this information is protected. Also you will have the right to authorize or deny this information to any parties by stating your preference in writing. What’s more you can also review such information and find out who has been accessing the same.

– Availability of Personal Information: The rules of HIPAA especially the ones under Security will ensure that all your medical information is available in a standardized electronic format and can be accessed from anywhere in the country. This will help the concerned officials to quickly access your data and provide you prompt treatment in case of emergencies or when you are away from home. Such information can be useful for your family to locate you in case of displacement during certain disaster and natural calamities, and also allow officials to contact you for the wellbeing of your family members.

– Corrective Action: If at any time you notice a violation or misuse of your personal information, you can approach the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and can file a complaint within 180 days of the violation. Under the provisions of HIPAA, OCR will follow a procedure to investigate the complaint and if a violation is found it will suggest a corrective action and can even impose penalties.

Thus the above points cover areas right from getting proper insurance coverage and protecting your information rights to benefitting during medical emergencies and getting justice in case of being affected due to any violations.

For more information, please visit our hipaa website.

For more information, please visit our hipaa website http://www.hipaaviolations.com

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

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: hipaa privacy,Health Insurance ,HIPAA,privacy rules