HIPAA | Meaning and Definition

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA, which stands for The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, changed both the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Public Health Service Act and was passed by Congress. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was designed to safeguard people with health insurance and to establish rules for the preservation and protection of sensitive medical information.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ensures that personal healthcare plans are available, mobile, and continuous, and it establishes the criteria and mechanisms for sharing medical data across the US healthcare system to avoid fraud. State law is superseded (unless the state’s requirements are stricter).

The act has been amended to cover procedures for securely storing and exchanging patient medical data over the internet. It also contains measures for administrative simplification, which aim to improve efficiency and save administrative expenses by creating federal standards.