HIPAA & Health Information Portability: A Foundation for Interoperability

Twenty-two years ago this month, the U.S. Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The federal Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules implemented under HIPAA, and administered and enforced by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), continue to serve as the national foundation of protections for individually identifiable health information, and of individuals’ rights with respect to their information, including the right to see and obtain copies of their health information from their healthcare providers and health plans. In addition, HIPAA covered entities and their business associates continue to use the required HIPAA electronic transactions and code set standards to exchange health information for essential administrative purposes, such as submitting insurance claims.