Hipaa Privacy Rule :: Healthcare Medical Information Privacy

1. Introduction Today, you entertain more reason than ever to negociate about the privacy of your aesculapian information. This information was once stored in locked file cabinets and on dusty shelves in the health check records department. Your doctor(s) used to be the sole keeper of your physical and genial health information. With todays usage of electronic medical records software, information discussed in boldness with your doctor(s) will be recorded into electronic data files. The obvious preserve - the potential for your records to be proben by hundreds of strangers who work in health care, the policy industry, and a host of businesses associated with medical organizations. Fortunately, this catastrohic scenario will likely be avoided. intercourse addressed growing public concern about privacy and gage of personal health data, and in 1996 passed The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability play (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data. Before HIPAA, each raise set their own standards. Now states must abide by the stripped standards set by HIPAA. States can enact laws to incorporate and/or alter the basic safes given(p) by HIPAA.How HIPAAs Privacy Rule Protects YOU The Patient glide slope to your own medical recordsPrior to HIPAA, access to YOUR medical records were not guaranteed by federal law. Only about half the states had laws giving patients the right to see and copy their own medical records. You may be charged for copies only when HIPAA sets fee limits. You Must Be Given Notice Of Privacy PracticesHow your medical information is used and disclosed must now be given to you. The notice must also tell you how to exercise your rights and how to file a complaint with your health care supplier and with the DHHS Office of Civil Rights. HIPAA Requires invoice of Disclosure DetailsYou have the right to know who has accessed your health records for the antecedent six years, However there a re several exceptions to the accounting requirement. chronicle is not required when records are disclosed to persons who see your records for treatment, payment, and health care operations. These individuals do not need to be listed in the disclosure log. register A Complaint If you believe a health care provider or health plan has violated your privacy you have the right to file a complaint with your health care provider and with DHHS. additional Requests For Confidential Communications. You can make special requests specifying how you would like your doctors office clutch confidential communication.