Our concern for the safety and security of your personal healthcare information has never been taken more seriously.

While we have always gone to great lengths to ensure the privacy of your personal health information, we will soon be getting additional help from the Federal Government in the the form of new regulations. These regulations will help standardize privacy and security requirements across all different types of healthcare organizations.

NEW REGULATIONS PASSED
The regulations are part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, for short. HIPAA does three primary things:
1. It helps standardize and simplify the way healthcare organizations exchanges electronic health care data.
2. It provides consumers with additional protections for getting and maintaining health insurance coverage; although, it does not guarantee coverage.
3. It creates new security rules to ensure the safety and privacy of individual health information and medical records.

HIPAA ENSURES THE PRIVACY AND SECURITY OF INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INFORMATION
Currently, individual state laws govern use and disclosure of this information,creating many inconsistencies and gaps in the way your health information is protected. HIPAA sets minimum security and privacy standards for healthcare organizations to follow. If a state has more stringent privacy and security laws, then those would be followed instead. In addition, HIPAA sets heavy penalties for violations of these standards and the misuse of personal health information.

DEFINING INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INFORMATION
Every time you go to see a doctor, are admitted to a hospital, fill a precription or send a claim to an insurance company, a record is made of your confidential health information. This type of information is referred to as individually identifiable health information and is the type of information regulated by HIPAA. It can be in any format - electronic, paper or oral. Healthcare organizations that collect and manage this type of information and are therefore covered by these regulations including physicians, physical therapists, mental health professionals, dentists, chiropractors, optometrist, podiatrists and others; hospitals; health plans; employers; healthcare clearinghouses such as claims processors; and other healthcare organizations who conduct administrative and financial transactions.

ADDED CONTROL OVER HEALTH INFORMATION
Under HIPAA, you have new rights to understand and control how your health information is used.

In general. HIPAA tries to find a balance between proctecting your privacy and allowing the appropriate flow af information between healthcare providers that is necessary for you to access care and receive quality healthcare services.