The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) rules offer protection to the security and privacy of patient health information. The set of regulations is made up of HIPPA privacy rule and HIPPA security rule. The Privacy rule offers federal protection to particular health information while the Security rule contains national standards for protecting the security of certain patient information while it is transferred through electronic means. The HIPPA also has a Breach notification rule that requires providers to offer notification in case there is a breach in security of patient data. The HIPPA therefore requires health providers to safeguard patient data whether in electronic or paper form by adhering to the HIPPA rules (HHS, 2017).
The type of information that is protected
The HIPPA Privacy and Security rules is intended to safeguard what is referred to as individually identifiable health information that a health provider has access to or is transmitting through any form of communication whether electronic, oral or paper. The set of patient data that is protected includes: past and present information on the physical and mental health status of the patient, the payment method for health care provision and the manner …show more content…
The security rule contains the administrative, physical and organizational safeguards as well as policies and procedures that all healthcare providers with access to electronic patient data must follow. The administrative safeguards include the identification and maintenance of security measures and require providers to regularly perform risk analysis and address risks. Physical safeguards include the measures used to protect equipment from hazards while organizational safeguards specify standards for any written contracts and arrangements (HHS,