Understanding Health Care Jargon – HIPAA

When choosing the right Healthcare insurance understanding the jargon that goes along with the paperwork can be very confusing. A lot of the policies use standardized legal wording that can be difficult for anyone not trained in law to understand.

 

However, some of these words are vitally important in ensuring we receive the right care and dignity when we are being cared for by healthcare professionals.

 

What is HIPAA?

 

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act protects how companies deal with your personal health information and how they store that information. Any treatment centers, insurance companies and operators working within the Healthcare sector have to comply with these rules. The same goes if you run a medical practice of any kind yourself, your on site staff will need to understand what is required to comply with these laws. If you decide to outsource in any way, it’s key that you look to hire a hipaa compliant virtual assistant to handle filing tasks and the administrative side of your business. This can give you peace of mind that you remain compliant whilst saving on the cost of hiring admin staff versus employing another on-site employee.

 

Have a question about personal finance or entrepreneurship? Join the Ask Me Anything live chats on Conference Room.

 

 

Where am I covered by this law?

To be covered by HIPAA  laws, you must be within the United States. The laws were created by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office for Civil Rights. By creating this law, the government has protected your human rights with your protection in mind.

 

What do HIPAA rules do?

The HIPAA rules require all healthcare settings to have compliant HIPAA policies that are easily accessible for all users to see how their information is stored, shared and protected from fraud. They were developed to streamline and modernize the use of healthcare information and to enable continuity of communication between healthcare settings and insurance companies.

 

The rules are there to protect your sensitive information from being disclosed and discussed without your consent.

 

Are there exceptions to the rules?

Like most laws yes there are, but it’s only in extreme cases where safety is at risk that these rules can be breached. These include; cases of domestic violence or assault, any judicial proceedings, cadaveric tissue donation and certain types of compensations.

 

What are the key points of this law?

Ensuring all electronically stored health information is accounted for and kept confidentially. The law requires companies or businesses that store this type of information to detect and safeguard any threats made to the information. All businesses that have access to this type of information are compliant with these regulatory laws.

 

Why does my information need so much protection?

HIPAA protects any of your Protected Health Information (PHI) from being shared. You may not mind your health status being shared, however, your PHI is linked to data such as your address, any personal demographic information that can be used to identify you personally.

 

It may also include phone numbers, your Social Security number, financial information and photographs of you and your illnesses. Your personal information is personal to you, and sharing any of this may lead you to be open to fraud, which is a very scary experience. You can share anything you wish, however companies are not. That is why this legislation is in place.

 

Are there any risks involved with storing information online?

Unfortunately, there are. With the increase in storing information online comes the increased risk of security and data breaches by third parties.

 

Consult with an attorney and your Doctor regarding these important issues.

Go to Accounting Accidentally for 500+ blog posts and 450+ You Tube videos on accounting and personal finance.

Good luck!

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/