Why was HIPAA created?
HIPAA stands for the acronym of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act†of 1996. HIPAA is divided into two major parts which help out putting into plain words the very basis for its creation.
First part of HIPAA is Title I which provides insurance coverage protection for workers and their families. It is stated that any employee who has an existing healthcare insurance cannot be disqualified from the coverage even if the worker loses its job or decides to change a career. It is said to be created to avoid having job lock†among employees. Job lock†is a term used to describe the failure of an employee to leave their job freely because of fear that they might lose their benefits like health insurance.
Second part of HIPAA or Title II has five sections which are Standards for Electronic Transactions, Unique Identifiers Standards, Security Rule, Privacy Rule, and Enforcement Rule. In general, Title II talked about the established rules and regulations with regard to health care and its set of civil and criminal penalties if the regulations were said to be disregarded. It also intends to stop fraud and exploitation inside the health care system.
The most important section of Title II is the part where it requires the Department of Health and Human Services (or HHS) to come up with a set of rules that are designed to increase the effectiveness of the national health care system through the establishment of standardized policies concerning the distribution and utilization of health care related information. It promotes the exchange of the needed health care records among the US health care system through computer ization in a private and secured way set by both HIPAA and HHS.
Although the intention for the creation of HIPAA is for the protection and betterment of the national healthcare system, it still has its own controversies that needed to be answered. However that will have to be discussed in another article.
December 4, 2012 10:59 am
Why was HIPAA created?
HIPAA stands for the acronym of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act†of 1996. HIPAA is divided into two major parts which help out putting into plain words the very basis for its creation.
First part of HIPAA is Title I which provides insurance coverage protection for workers and their families. It is stated that any employee who has an existing healthcare insurance cannot be disqualified from the coverage even if the worker loses its job or decides to change a career. It is said to be created to avoid having job lock†among employees. Job lock†is a term used to describe the failure of an employee to leave their job freely because of fear that they might lose their benefits like health insurance.
Second part of HIPAA or Title II has five sections which are Standards for Electronic Transactions, Unique Identifiers Standards, Security Rule, Privacy Rule, and Enforcement Rule. In general, Title II talked about the established rules and regulations with regard to health care and its set of civil and criminal penalties if the regulations were said to be disregarded. It also intends to stop fraud and exploitation inside the health care system.
The most important section of Title II is the part where it requires the Department of Health and Human Services (or HHS) to come up with a set of rules that are designed to increase the effectiveness of the national health care system through the establishment of standardized policies concerning the distribution and utilization of health care related information. It promotes the exchange of the needed health care records among the US health care system through computer ization in a private and secured way set by both HIPAA and HHS.
Although the intention for the creation of HIPAA is for the protection and betterment of the national healthcare system, it still has its own controversies that needed to be answered. However that will have to be discussed in another article.