Health+Insurance+Portability+and+Accountability+Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), together with its Privacy and Security Rules, applies to most healthcare organizations in the United States of America.

The following information is taken from the [|HIPAA Primer published by Phoenix Health Systems].

//"HIPAA" is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (August 21), Public Law 104-191, which amended the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986. Also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, the Act includes a section, Title II, entitled Administrative Simplification, requiring://
 * 1) //Improved efficiency in healthcare delivery by standardizing electronic data interchange, and//
 * 2) //Protection of confidentiality and security of health data through setting and enforcing standards.//

//More specifically, HIPAA called upon the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish new rules that will ensure://
 * 1) //Standardization of electronic patient health, administrative and financial data//
 * 2) //Unique health identifiers for individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers//
 * 3) //Security standards protecting the confidentiality and integrity of "individually identifiable health information," past, present or future.//
 * //The bottom line: sweeping changes in most healthcare transaction and administrative information systems.//

//Virtually all healthcare organizations are affected – including all healthcare providers, health plans, public health authorities, healthcare clearinghouses, and self-ensured employers – as well as life insurers, information systems vendors, various service organizations, and universities.

HIPAA's **"Administrative Simplification"** provision is composed of four parts, each of which have generated a variety of "rules" promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services. The four parts of Administrative Simplification are://
 * 1) //Standards for Electronic Transactions//
 * 2) //Unique Identifiers Standards//
 * 3) //Security Rule//
 * 4) //Privacy Rule//

External Links:
[|Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] [|HIPAA Primer]