Most people know HIPAA has something to do with healthcare. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It’s a mystery to most and has a title that’s hard to wrap your head around. HIPAA was originally enacted in 1996 to simplify healthcare and the health insurance system. Their goal was to put consumer protection over that of healthcare providers. Over time and with the increase in electronic data, it’s grown to include patient data security, patient privacy, and patient health data disclosures.
There are four rights HIPAA provides that are important to healthcare consumers. There are exclusions to HIPAA protection, but most healthcare and health insurance providers are covered. These HIPAA rules revolve around your PHI, or Protected Health Information.
Health Data Security – It’s about safeguarding your healthcare data, especially your electronic data. HIPAA works to ensure that cybersecurity at hospitals and institutions is properly maintained and updated, helping avoid hacking and other cybercrimes. HIPAA promotes employee cyber education on a continuing basis. This includes teaching personnel how to avoid phishing and other dangerous emails that can lead to security breaches.
Health Data Privacy – This assures your health data information is limited only to those who need it to treat your health or for administrative purposes. A patient must give approval for their data to be shared with services other than medical and health insurance providers. It also allows a patient to specify with whom your data may be shared, such as family members or other caregivers.
Data Breach Notification – Even though HIPAA is very involved with patient data security measures, there’s no guarantee your information is safe from data breaches. If there is a breach, HIPAA requires patients to be notified within 60 days. This gives those affected the ability to recover more quickly from identity theft and potential fraud. In some cases, HIPAA also requires the media to be notified.
Medical Record Copies – This gives patients the right to easy access to their medical records. Being able to check your medical records and compare them to health insurance coverage and billing can save a lot of confusion and potentially prevent fraud. The ability to spot inconsistencies or treatments you may not have received, but are being billed for gives patients the right to dispute those claims. Also, knowing your medical details can keep you better informed and more active in your treatment.
Healthcare fraud is on the rise and various studies show that health records are now more valuable on the dark web than payment card information. The more you know about what is included in your electronic healthcare records and what may at risk should a data breach occur, the faster you can spot potential fraud and take action.
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