Privacy Policy

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To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 included a series of "administrative simplification" provisions that required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adopt national standards for electronic health care transactions. By ensuring consistency throughout the industry, these national standards will make it easier for health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to process claims and other transactions electronically. The law also requires the adoption of security and privacy standards in order to protect personal health information. HSS is issuing the following major regulations:

· Electronic health care transactions (final rule issued); 

· Health information privacy (final rule issued); 

· Unique identifier for employers (final rule issued); 

· Security requirements (final rule issued); 

· Unique identifier for providers (proposed rule issued; final rule in development); 

· Unique identifier for health plans (proposed rule in development); and 

· Enforcement procedures (proposed rule in development).