HIPAA Compliance

Protected health information

HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This Act deals with two separate issues, Portability and Accountability. It was introduced in 1996 and fully implemented in 2003.

Portability addresses the issue of a person moving from one job to another and being able to carry their pre-existing medical conditions into the new medical insurance policy at no additional cost to them. Prior to the introduction of HIPAA, if a person changed jobs and therefore lost their insurance coverage, the next insurance company they used could classify their existing health needs as “pre-existing conditions” and in doing so would not be liable to pay for the medical expenses to cover that condition. For example, if a person was regularly taking prescription medicine for high blood pressure, the new insurance provider could refuse to pay for his medication under the pre-existing condition clause in their policy.

Accountability addresses the issue of protecting the confidentiality of patient data. When a software program stores patient data, HIPAA requires that the data be stored in a way that unauthorized persons cannot access the data and that patient privacy is protected and their preferences regarding who can see what data are honored.​