Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Uncommon card · No. 85007

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy–Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. It aimed to alter the transfer of healthcare information and stipulated guidelines by which personally identifiable information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, and addressed some limitations on healthcare insurance coverage. It generally prohibits healthcare providers and businesses called covered entities from disclosing protected information to anyone other than a patient and the patient's authorized representatives without their consent. The law does not restrict patients from accessing their own information, except in limited cases. Furthermore, it does not prohibit patients from voluntarily sharing their health information however they choose, nor does it require confidentiality...

Read on Wikipedia · Image U.S. Government, Public domain