Though HIPAA regulates on many aspects of the healthcare industry, from insurance to the collection of medical data, when most people talk about HIPAA they refer to its impact on data privacy. All healthcare professionals receive extensive HIPAA training on how to understand and enforce this complex Act, and thus are expected to understand its importance. However, relatively few patients understand the extent of HIPAA, how it affects their healthcare and why it is so important.

What does HIPAA do?

Though HIPAA regulates on many aspects of the healthcare industry, from insurance to the collection of medical data, when most people talk about HIPAA they refer to its impact on data privacy. All healthcare professionals receive extensive HIPAA training on how to understand and enforce this complex Act, and thus are expected to understand its importance. However, relatively few patients understand the extent of HIPAA, how it affects their healthcare and why it is so important.

What does HIPAA do?

In essence, HIPAA can be seen as a piece of legislation regulating how patient data can be used, who can access it, and how it must be stored and protected. There are other parts of HIPAA that regulate how health insurance plans are transferred between employers, though few people refer to this aspect of the legislation when they talk about HIPAA.

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address different aspects of data integrity. The Privacy Rule defines protected health information (PHI) as a piece of information that can be used to identify an individual. This includes the following:

• Name (including aliases and previous names)
• Telephone numbers (work, cell and home)
• Addresses or geographical information smaller than the State level (except first three digits of a zip code)
• Social Security numbers
• Fax Numbers
• Email addresses
• Medical records
• Health insurance numbers/beneficiary numbers
• Account numbers (e.g. bank account)
• Certificate or license numbers
• Vehicle license plates or other identifiers
• Device serial numbers
• URLs associated with the patient
• IP addresses
• Finger, retinal and voice prints (or other biometric identifiers)
• Photographs or video footage

PHI, of course, includes all health records. How this PHI is protected is defined in the Security Rule. This rule introduces three classes of safeguards – administrative, technical and physical – that must be put in place to protect patient data. The absence of any of these safeguards is considered a HIPAA violation, and is prosecuted by the Office for Civil Rights. If a breach or violation is discovered, the negligent party may receive a financial or even criminal penalty. These act as deterrents for any covered entity who may be violating HIPAA.

How does HIPAA affect me?

Many of the aforementioned safeguards will be “behind the scenes” will not be directly related to patients. Nevertheless, they are vitally important – without these safeguards, patients are dramatically more likely to become the victims of fraud. Medical records are a profitable target for cybercriminals as the data they contain can be used for health insurance fraud.

There are some ways in which HIPAA directly relates to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to request access to their healthcare data at any time. These requests must be fulfilled without undue delay. Additionally, patients may request to change parts of their medical record, or if the healthcare professional disagrees with the change, to have their disagreement put on record. These rights help to give patients agency over their healthcare, as they can choose who sees their records and what they contain.

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was introduced in 1996. The main objective of the act was the govern how health insurance plans would be transferred between employers if an employee moved job, as well as detailing how group health insurance plans should be managed. However, defining HIPAA as such leaves out a large part of its role in the healthcare industry.

Usually, when patients hear of HIPAA, it is usually in reference to Title II of the Act: Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; Administrative Simplification; Medical Liability Reform. The title is deceptively easy to understand: how HIPAA achieves these things is actually relatively complex and healthcare professionals will usually receive extensive HIPAA training to understand the document. In essence, this part of HIPAA relates to patient privacy. It seeks to protect the integrity of health information, preventing unauthorized individuals from accessing it and also prevent patients becoming the victims of fraud.

How does HIPAA protect patients?

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address specific aspects of patient privacy. From a patient’s perspective, the Privacy and Security Rules are the most relevant, though the other rules (Enforcement, Breach Notification and Omnibus Rules) should not be dismissed as irrelevant.

The Privacy Rule of 2003 was the first addition to HIPAA since it was signed into law in 1996. The Rule introduced a definition of “protected health information”, which was to be protected under HIPAA. The Rule defined PHI as any piece of information that could be used to identify individuals, such as name, social security number, biometric data etc. All of this information, as well as the medical record, must be protected from access by unauthorized individuals. The Privacy Rule also introduced the Minimum Necessary Rule, which states that only the PHI necessary to complete a health-related task may be transferred between individuals, and no more. This means that patients are protected from the unnecessary disclosure of PHI.

How does HIPAA directly impact patients?

Though it may not seem the case, all aspects of HIPAA directly impact patients. By protecting health data, HIPAA helps prevent patients from becoming the victim of healthcare fraud. This can be a very difficult thing to resolve and will potentially cost the patient a lot in wasted time and money.
There are other aspects of HIPAA that directly relate to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to access their health records, send it to designated individuals, request amendments to their record, have disagreements recorded on their file or know who has accessed their data.

In essence, HIPAA can be seen as a piece of legislation regulating how patient data can be used, who can access it, and how it must be stored and protected. There are other parts of HIPAA that regulate how health insurance plans are transferred between employers, though few people refer to this aspect of the legislation when they talk about HIPAA.

Though HIPAA regulates on many aspects of the healthcare industry, from insurance to the collection of medical data, when most people talk about HIPAA they refer to its impact on data privacy. All healthcare professionals receive extensive HIPAA training on how to understand and enforce this complex Act, and thus are expected to understand its importance. However, relatively few patients understand the extent of HIPAA, how it affects their healthcare and why it is so important.

What does HIPAA do?

In essence, HIPAA can be seen as a piece of legislation regulating how patient data can be used, who can access it, and how it must be stored and protected. There are other parts of HIPAA that regulate how health insurance plans are transferred between employers, though few people refer to this aspect of the legislation when they talk about HIPAA.

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address different aspects of data integrity. The Privacy Rule defines protected health information (PHI) as a piece of information that can be used to identify an individual. This includes the following:

• Name (including aliases and previous names)
• Telephone numbers (work, cell and home)
• Addresses or geographical information smaller than the State level (except first three digits of a zip code)
• Social Security numbers
• Fax Numbers
• Email addresses
• Medical records
• Health insurance numbers/beneficiary numbers
• Account numbers (e.g. bank account)
• Certificate or license numbers
• Vehicle license plates or other identifiers
• Device serial numbers
• URLs associated with the patient
• IP addresses
• Finger, retinal and voice prints (or other biometric identifiers)
• Photographs or video footage

PHI, of course, includes all health records. How this PHI is protected is defined in the Security Rule. This rule introduces three classes of safeguards – administrative, technical and physical – that must be put in place to protect patient data. The absence of any of these safeguards is considered a HIPAA violation, and is prosecuted by the Office for Civil Rights. If a breach or violation is discovered, the negligent party may receive a financial or even criminal penalty. These act as deterrents for any covered entity who may be violating HIPAA.

How does HIPAA affect me?

Many of the aforementioned safeguards will be “behind the scenes” will not be directly related to patients. Nevertheless, they are vitally important – without these safeguards, patients are dramatically more likely to become the victims of fraud. Medical records are a profitable target for cybercriminals as the data they contain can be used for health insurance fraud.

There are some ways in which HIPAA directly relates to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to request access to their healthcare data at any time. These requests must be fulfilled without undue delay. Additionally, patients may request to change parts of their medical record, or if the healthcare professional disagrees with the change, to have their disagreement put on record. These rights help to give patients agency over their healthcare, as they can choose who sees their records and what they contain.

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was introduced in 1996. The main objective of the act was the govern how health insurance plans would be transferred between employers if an employee moved job, as well as detailing how group health insurance plans should be managed. However, defining HIPAA as such leaves out a large part of its role in the healthcare industry.

Usually, when patients hear of HIPAA, it is usually in reference to Title II of the Act: Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; Administrative Simplification; Medical Liability Reform. The title is deceptively easy to understand: how HIPAA achieves these things is actually relatively complex and healthcare professionals will usually receive extensive HIPAA training to understand the document. In essence, this part of HIPAA relates to patient privacy. It seeks to protect the integrity of health information, preventing unauthorized individuals from accessing it and also prevent patients becoming the victims of fraud.

How does HIPAA protect patients?

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address specific aspects of patient privacy. From a patient’s perspective, the Privacy and Security Rules are the most relevant, though the other rules (Enforcement, Breach Notification and Omnibus Rules) should not be dismissed as irrelevant.

The Privacy Rule of 2003 was the first addition to HIPAA since it was signed into law in 1996. The Rule introduced a definition of “protected health information”, which was to be protected under HIPAA. The Rule defined PHI as any piece of information that could be used to identify individuals, such as name, social security number, biometric data etc. All of this information, as well as the medical record, must be protected from access by unauthorized individuals. The Privacy Rule also introduced the Minimum Necessary Rule, which states that only the PHI necessary to complete a health-related task may be transferred between individuals, and no more. This means that patients are protected from the unnecessary disclosure of PHI.

How does HIPAA directly impact patients?

Though it may not seem the case, all aspects of HIPAA directly impact patients. By protecting health data, HIPAA helps prevent patients from becoming the victim of healthcare fraud. This can be a very difficult thing to resolve and will potentially cost the patient a lot in wasted time and money.
There are other aspects of HIPAA that directly relate to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to access their health records, send it to designated individuals, request amendments to their record, have disagreements recorded on their file or know who has accessed their data.

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address different aspects of data integrity. The Privacy Rule defines protected health information (PHI) as a piece of information that can be used to identify an individual. This includes the following:

• Name (including aliases and previous names)
• Telephone numbers (work, cell and home)
• Addresses or geographical information smaller than the State level (except first three digits of a zip code)
• Social Security numbers
• Fax Numbers
• Email addresses
• Medical records
• Health insurance numbers/beneficiary numbers
• Account numbers (e.g. bank account)
• Certificate or license numbers
• Vehicle license plates or other identifiers
• Device serial numbers
• URLs associated with the patient
• IP addresses
• Finger, retinal and voice prints (or other biometric identifiers)
• Photographs or video footage

PHI, of course, includes all health records. How this PHI is protected is defined in the Security Rule. This rule introduces three classes of safeguards – administrative, technical and physical – that must be put in place to protect patient data. The absence of any of these safeguards is considered a HIPAA violation, and is prosecuted by the Office for Civil Rights. If a breach or violation is discovered, the negligent party may receive a financial or even criminal penalty. These act as deterrents for any covered entity who may be violating HIPAA.

How does HIPAA affect me?

Many of the aforementioned safeguards will be “behind the scenes” will not be directly related to patients. Nevertheless, they are vitally important – without these safeguards, patients are dramatically more likely to become the victims of fraud. Medical records are a profitable target for cybercriminals as the data they contain can be used for health insurance fraud.

There are some ways in which HIPAA directly relates to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to request access to their healthcare data at any time. These requests must be fulfilled without undue delay. Additionally, patients may request to change parts of their medical record, or if the healthcare professional disagrees with the change, to have their disagreement put on record. These rights help to give patients agency over their healthcare, as they can choose who sees their records and what they contain.

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was introduced in 1996. The main objective of the act was the govern how health insurance plans would be transferred between employers if an employee moved job, as well as detailing how group health insurance plans should be managed. However, defining HIPAA as such leaves out a large part of its role in the healthcare industry.

Usually, when patients hear of HIPAA, it is usually in reference to Title II of the Act: Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; Administrative Simplification; Medical Liability Reform. The title is deceptively easy to understand: how HIPAA achieves these things is actually relatively complex and healthcare professionals will usually receive extensive HIPAA training to understand the document. In essence, this part of HIPAA relates to patient privacy. It seeks to protect the integrity of health information, preventing unauthorized individuals from accessing it and also prevent patients becoming the victims of fraud.

How does HIPAA protect patients?

There are a number of rules within HIPAA that address specific aspects of patient privacy. From a patient’s perspective, the Privacy and Security Rules are the most relevant, though the other rules (Enforcement, Breach Notification and Omnibus Rules) should not be dismissed as irrelevant.

The Privacy Rule of 2003 was the first addition to HIPAA since it was signed into law in 1996. The Rule introduced a definition of “protected health information”, which was to be protected under HIPAA. The Rule defined PHI as any piece of information that could be used to identify individuals, such as name, social security number, biometric data etc. All of this information, as well as the medical record, must be protected from access by unauthorized individuals. The Privacy Rule also introduced the Minimum Necessary Rule, which states that only the PHI necessary to complete a health-related task may be transferred between individuals, and no more. This means that patients are protected from the unnecessary disclosure of PHI.

How does HIPAA directly impact patients?

Though it may not seem the case, all aspects of HIPAA directly impact patients. By protecting health data, HIPAA helps prevent patients from becoming the victim of healthcare fraud. This can be a very difficult thing to resolve and will potentially cost the patient a lot in wasted time and money.
There are other aspects of HIPAA that directly relate to patients. HIPAA gives patients the right to access their health records, send it to designated individuals, request amendments to their record, have disagreements recorded on their file or know who has accessed their data.