Question

One of the largest problems with healthcare information security has always been inappropriate use by authorized users. How do HIPPA and the HITECH Act help to curb this problem?

Answer 1

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which was established in year 1996. It is United States legislation and provides data privacy and security provisions for securing medical information.

HIPAA consists of 5 sections to protect health insurance coverage for individuals who lose or change jobs, to implement secure electronic access to health data by healthcare organisations, to provide provisions for medical insurance.

Title II of HIPPA mainly deals to protect health information of individuals.

It contains following rules -

• Transactions and Code Sets Standard. Healthcare institutions must follow a standardized mechanism for electronic data interchange to submit and process insurance claims.
• HIPAA Privacy Rule. Also called as the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information. It establishes national standards to protect patient health information.
• HIPAA Security Rule. The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Informationsets standards for patient data security.

​Following information is protected by HIPPA-

• name, address, date of birth and Social Security number;
• physical or mental health condition;
• medical care provided
• payment information for the medical facilities that identifies the patient

HITECH Act stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. It states rules to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology.