What is HIPAA?

HIPAA is an acronym for the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act". Enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996, its primary aim is to protect patient privacy. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers. This is intended to help people keep their information private, though in practice it is normal for providers and health insurance plans to require the waiver of HIPAA rights as a condition of service.

The Administration Simplification provisions also address the security and privacy of health data; see At IU, how do I securely process, store, transmit, and share ePHI or HIPAA data? The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in the U.S. health care system.

For more about HIPAA, see the US Department of Health and Human Services' Regulations.

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