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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a piece of federal legislation which, among several things, created sweeping patient privacy rights. Years of revisions and interpretation have resulted in detailed rules for how health care providers, insurance companies, pharmacies and other businesses with access to patient information must handle, transmit, store and use patient data -- especially medical records. The exact recipe for HIPAA compliance varies by type of business or institution. However, health care providers such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, surgery centers and physician practices, have more requirements and therefore the most work to come into compliance.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- OSHA -- has established a standard for The Control of Hazardous Energy, a lockout and tag-out policy in the Code of Federal Regulations. This standard regulates the procedures required to stop machinery from operating and releasing hazardous energy while employees perform maintenance or repair on equipment and electrical circuits. A compliance checklist ensures that service personnel follow strict protocol on safe work practices, since their job exposes them to the greatest risk.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law in August of 1996. HIPAA was designed to facilitate consumer access to quality health insurance coverage, reduce overall administrative costs in the health care industry and help protect against health insurance fraud. All employers who offer group health insurance plans to their employees are required to comply with HIPPA rules.
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was passed in 1996 to protect a patient's health information and ensure confidentiality. Health plans, medical billing companies and health care providers are subject to strict rules regarding the electronic transmission of information regarding a patient's health. Civil and criminal charges may be imposed if a patient's right to privacy is compromised.
A HIPAA compliance refers to the standards and regulations that hospitals must comply to in order to avoid potentially devastating fines, so many hospitals have their on HIPAA compliance officers to keep things legitimate. Understand the compliance laws surrounding HIPAA with information from a representative in this free video on insurance.
If you've ever been to any type of physician, chances are you've had to read and sign a document notifying you of the company's HIPAA compliance. If you're like most people, you probably scan through the content without really reading it before blindly signing your name on the dotted line. And although you may know the basic concept of HIPAA compliance, you probably are not entirely familiar with what the term actually means. Well, if you've ever been curious about what exactly you're signing, continue reading to learn just what HIPPA compliance is all about.
