Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
11.1.1
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
HIPAA (also known as Public Law 104-191 or the Kennedy-Kassenbaum
Bill) is an act passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into effect on August
21, 1996. HIPAA's general objectives are as follows:
Guarantee health insurance coverage of employees
Reduce health care fraud and abuse
Implement administrative simplification in order to augment effec-
tiveness and efficiency of the health care system
Protect the health information of individuals against access without
consent or authroization
The act requires that U.S.-based healthcare companies be HIPAA-com-
pliant by October 2003. If you live in the United States you will have
noticed that around that time (and even today) every time you go to a new
provider you are asked to sign some HIPAA document. This is mandated by
section 164.520—Notice of privacy practices for protected health informa-
tion. This section states that providers and other entities must provide indi-
viduals with a notice of privacy practices, that the notice must be in “plain
language,” and that it must include clauses such as the following:
Information about uses and disclosures of protected health information
An explanation of privacy rights
How to file complaints
Incidentally, contrary to what providers may tell you, you don't have
to sign the document; providers just have to give it to you and ask you to
sign it.
HIPAA addresses problems in the way health care companies, providers,
and carriers do business among them and specifically in the way that data is
used and stored, and the way transactions are performed. HIPAA tries to
address many problems that were (are?) prevalent in the U.S. health care
system and make the system frustrating at times. These problems include
the difficulty in sharing information among providers, incorrect informa-
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