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3.3. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
HIPAA requires national standards for electronic health care transactions and
national identifiers for providers, employers, and health plans. HIPAA also addresses
the security and privacy of health data. Clinics who conduct health care transactions
electronically are covered entities under this rule. Covered entities must implement
standards to protect and guard against the misuse of individually identifiable
health information. Covered entities must have in place appropriate administrative,
technical, and physical safeguards to safeguard the privacy of protected health
information. Additionally, the HIPAA Privacy Rule requires the following:
- Patients must be notified about
their privacy rights and how their information can be used.
- Privacy procedures must be
adopted and implemented.
- Staff must be trained so that
they understand privacy procedures.
- A staff member must be designated
as responsible for ensuring that privacy procedures are adopted
and followed.
- Patient records containing
individually identifiable health information must be secured so
that they are not readily available to those not authorized to access
them.
More information about HIPAA can be found on the Web site of the U.S.
Department
of Health and Human Services, Office
for Civil Rights (the
enforcer of the HIPAA privacy rule) and on the American
Dental Association’s (ADA’s) Web site.
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