Protecting the Privacy and Security of Your Health Information

Patients and their families, healthcare providers and experts, and governments all have privacy and safety of patient health information as a top priority. Federal law requires policies and protection measures to protect health information, regardless of whether the major people and organizations dealing with health information are stored on paper or electronically .

The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy, Security and Violation Notification Rules are the major federal laws that protect your health information. The privacy rules give you the right to information about your health. Privacy rules also set limits on how your health information is used and shared with others. Security rules define security rules on how to protect health information through administrative, technical and physical security measures.

Depending on the laws of your state, you may have other rights to protection and health information. Federal law protects certain types of health information, including information on federal funded alcohol and drug abuse treatment.

If you believe that the privacy of your health information is being violated, the US Department of Health and Human Services will introduce your privacy, enforce the rules, and help you to file complaints with departments, civil rights I will set up a station.

Healthcare providers and other key personnel and organizations handling your health information must use passwords, encryption and other technical protection to protect it. These are designed so that only the right people can access your information.

Federal law protects your health information, but you should use common sense to prevent personal information from being disclosed. Be sure to use sensitive passwords to keep confidential when accessing health records online. If you posted information online on a public forum, you can not think of it as personal or secure, remember.

Electronic Protection of Health Information HIPAA Privacy Rules protect personal information as described here, including Privacy Rules known as Personal Information Protected Health Information (PHI) - PDF. The security rules protect a subset of the information covered by the privacy rules, which are all personally identifiable health information that protected entities create, receive, maintain, or transmit in electronic form. Security rules call this information "electronic protection health information" (e-PHI). 3 Security rules do not apply to PHI for verbal or written communication.

All protected health information (PHI) must be protected according to the privacy regulations, regardless of whether the information is electronically stored or stored on paper. Security rules, on the other hand, apply only to Electronic Protection Health Information (EPHI) and do not apply to paper or verbally stored information. Evaluate potential risks: Evaluate and identify potential risks of EPHI confidentiality and implement risk reduction plans. For example, security administration needs to make sure that the file is password protected. Likewise, a computer workstation must be placed in the door locked room.

Security refers directly to protection to protect the privacy of health information, in particular, it supports professional confidential information. The concept of safety has been applied to paper health records from long ago; locking a file cabinet is a simple example. As the use of electronic medical record systems increases and the transmission of medical data supporting billing becomes more common, the need for specific regulatory guidelines on electronic medical information becomes more evident. The HIPAA Security Rules provide the first national standard for protecting health information. In order to deal with technical and administrative safeguards issues, HIPAA security rules are designed to protect personal information in electronic form. 2003b))