Page 5 - index

Five major components:

– HIPAA Title I, “Health care access, portability and renewability,” employers and health plans must allow
a new employee’s medical insurance coverage to remain continuous without regard to pre-existing conditions.

– HIPAA Title II, 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.

– HIPAA Title III, Introduces new tax rules related to healthcare treatment.

– HIPAA Title IV, Includes additional details on reform and insurance law with protections for those
who have pre-existing conditions and individuals who want to maintain their insurance.

– HIPAA Title V, Gives guidelines for life insurance policies that are owned by businesses
and how to handle income tax specifics when someone has their US citizenship revoked.

The section of HIPAA for providers, processing, transferring and/or storing health data is Title II. This part of the law
is often called “Administrative Simplification provisions.” This provision establishes and describes five elements:

– National Provider Identifier Standard
10-digit NPI (national provider identifier) numbers must be assigned to all healthcare entities.
Created to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the electronic transmission of health information.
– Transactions and Code Sets Standards
An objectively approved protocol must be used in electronic data interchange (EDI).
This allows the electronic exchange of information from computer to computer without human involvement.
– HIPAA Privacy Rule
Patient health information (PHI) must be protected.

– HIPAA Security Rule
Rule delineates expectations for the safeguarding of patient data.

– HIPAA Enforcement Rule
Subsection of the law provides parameters with which companies should be investigated
for potential or alleged violations.

A critical component that is an expectation set forth in the HIPAA Privacy Rule
to ensure compliance is “minimum necessary” protection. “Minimum necessary” defined by HHS:

– “The Privacy Rule generally requires covered entities to take reasonable steps to limit the use or
disclosure of, and requests for, protected health information to the minimum necessary to accomplish
the intended purpose.”

For more information: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html