HIPAA

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs.

If you believe your protected health information has been disclosed without your consent or has been stolen, please contact us using the form on this page or call The Class Action News at 213-212-2202.

HIPAA Privacy Rule

HIPAA’s Privacy Rule establishes a set of national standards for the protection of certain health information. The Privacy Rule applies to health plans, health care providers, and other organizations that deal with protected health information. Protected health information is a patient’s medical history, other documented health data, health care provisions, and payment information for health care provisions.

Generally, a patient’s protected health information cannot be disclosed to anyone beside the patient without the patient’s consent. However, there are certain situations where this information can be shown to other parties without the patient’s consent.

Protected health information can be disclosed to:
• People like doctors for the treatment and care of the patient
• Public health authorities for preventing or controlling disease
• Law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes
• Funeral directors, coroners, and medical examiners to identify a deceased person or determine a cause of death
• Medical researchers

Otherwise, organizations with your protected health information must get your consent to disclose the information. This authorization is required for any other reason than the reasons mentioned above. The most common reasons to get a patient’s consent to disclose this information is for psychotherapy treatment, and for marketing.

HIPAA Security Rule

HIPAA’s Security Rule establishes a national set of security standards for protecting certain health information that is held or transferred in electronic form. Where the Privacy Rule protects all protected health information in any form, the Security Rule protects a subset of information covered by the Privacy Rule. The Security Rule protects electronic protected health information, which is the same as protected health information but in electronic form.

Organizations that hold a patient’s electronic protected health information must ensure the confidentiality of this information. The organization has to anticipate threats to security and protect against such threats. Just like the Privacy Rule, electronic protected health information may not be disclosed to unauthorized people.

Personally Identifiable Information

Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that could potentially identify a specific individual. Any information that can be used to distinguish one person from another and can be used for de-anonymizing anonymous data can be considered personally identifiable information.

How Does HIPAA Affect Me?

Hospitals and health care providers keep patient information to give better medical treatment. This information contains personal and sensitive details about a person’s identity, health, and financial information. The organizations who maintain patient information must take steps to protect the information from unauthorized disclosures. They should be getting a patient’s consent before making most disclosures to outside parties, and should have security measures to prevent theft. Protected health information is a valuable target for thieves and hackers. With that information criminals can use patient information to commit identity theft and fraud.