Definition:
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
The Act consists of five Titles:
- Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs.
- Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.
- Title III sets guidelines for pre-tax medical spending accounts.
- Title IV sets guidelines for group health plans.
- Title V governs company-owned life insurance policies.
The Act was created primarily to modernize the flow of healthcare information, stipulate how Personally Identifiable Information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, and address limitations on healthcare insurance coverage.
For more information on HIPAA, click here.