Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

FRCP Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Sarbanes-Oxley HIPAA Corporate Governance CA's Information Practices UK Freedom of Information UK Data Protection Act '98

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established privacy requirements and security standards for protecting the confidentiality of individually identifiable health information. Virtually every healthcare organization has been affected including health care providers, health plans, public health authorities, and healthcare clearinghouses.

HIPAA mandates that providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and their business associates establish appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy and security of sensitive health information.

To ensure compliance with HIPAA, healthcare organizations must:

Establish policies, procedures and technical measures that protect the organization
Protect the privacy of all individually identifiable health information that is housed or transmitted electronically
Establish requirements for access to records
Establish agreements with business partners that safeguard their use
Update systems to ensure they provide adequate protection of patient data

HIPAA mandates security compliance for:

Health care providers
Health plans
Plans which provide or pay for the cost of medical care, and includes HMOs and
multi-employer welfare benefit plans
Health care clearinghouses or businesses/agencies which process health information

Violations can result in:

Civil penalties of $100 per violation with calendar year limits
Criminal penalties ranging up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in jail

Do you know if patient healthcare data is leaving your network? Workshare software helps organizations implement internal controls to protect sensitive data.

Ready to Learn More?