Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

 

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is US Federal legislation covering patient confidentiality. Organizations that must adhere to HIPAA regulations include insurance companies, healthcare providers, HMO's, pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacies and any other organization that handles or stores patient medical records. HIPAA went into effect on 12/20/00 and large organizations had to comply with HIPAA regulations by 11/15/04. 

 

HIPAA requires, among other things, that:

  • Healthcare organizations must have in place appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of personal healthcare information.

  • Organizations must document their policies and procedures for the use and disclosure of   such information including monitoring and mitigation.

  • Organizations who are aware of wrongful activity and fail to enforce confidentiality policies     may be held responsible for violations.

This means that policies controlling access to patient information in applications, databases and   data warehouses must be strictly enforced and that an audit trail of who has accessed the patient information must be maintained.

 

 

Source: Health Information Management Association