Unraveling the HIPAA Privacy Regulations
Author: Dean Rieger, M.D., MPH.
Source: Volume 03, Number 06, September/October 2002 , pp.81-82(2)
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Abstract:
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law on August 21,1996, and addresses several disparate areas. As the title suggests, it was first intended as a means to address problems in health insurance coverage relating to job changes and “preexisting medical conditions.” As HIPAA developed, a series of privacy related regulations were introduced into it, and now the HIPAA privacy regulations have become a distinct group of regulations. Five key elements comprise the final HIPAA privacy regulations. These are: 1.A definition of Protected Health Information (PHI), 2.A definition of Covered Entities (CEs), 3.A set of uses and disclosures to which PHI may be put, 4. A set of administrative requirements, and 5. A set of enforcement options (sanctions).Keywords: Universal precautions, Hepatitis B, disclosure, 164.506, Consent, Authorization, 164.512
Affiliations:
1: Indiana Department of Corrections.