HIPPA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It This act came in force in 1996 to protect unnecessary disclosure and exploitation of health information of consumers. It is made of two major sets of rules.

1. HIPAA privacy rule: This rule makes it mandatory to keep the personal health information of a person confidential.
2. HIPAA Security Rule: This rule creates privacy standards for electronic health information of patients.

Under HIPPA, following information is protected:

1. Medical Records: These include all kinds of identifiable medical information about a person.
2. Conversations of a patient with his or her doctors and nurses about the treatment
3. Billing information.
4. Medical information in the computer systems of Health Insurance Company.
5. All the information that unnecessary reveals your medical information.

The entities which are bound to comply with HIPAA are known as “covered entities.”
This Act must be followed by the following people:

1. All healthcare providers: These include medical practitioners, clinics, nursing homes and hospitals.
2. Health plan providers: These include HMOs, Medicaid, health plans provided by company, insurance companies and Medicare.

But HIPAA is not a universal law. This means that there are still some agencies which are not required to follow the rules of this act. Not every organization that may have the medical records of a patient is a “covered entity.” Life insurance companies, schools, workers compensation providers and employers are not required to comply with the privacy rules of HIPAA. Municipal offices and state and law enforcement agencies have also been exempted from this act.

HIPAA law provides a number of rights to the patient. They have the right to see and possess a copy of all of their health records that any medical institution has in its records. The institution may charge the patient to provide a copy of the records.

The patient is also entitled to know how his information will be protected. He must be informed of all the circumstances in which his information may be used and shared. A patient can also complaint against insurance company, doctor or any other institution, in case his or her information is misused or leaked without permission.

Related Hipaa Posts

• May 19, 2010 -- Details on HIPAA laws
• May 1, 2010 -- HIPAA Certification: Who needs it?
• April 27, 2010 -- HIPAA Security Rule
• April 18, 2010 -- Privacy rules under HIPAA
• August 6, 2009 -- HIPAA laws and patients