The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability, or HIPAA, violations happen when the acquisition, access, use or disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) is done in a way that results in a significant personal risk of the patient.

Covered entities are defined in the HIPAA rules as (1) health plans, (2) health care clearinghouses, and (3) health care providers who electronically transmit any health information in connection with transactions for which HHS has adopted standards.

The HIPAA rules and regulations consists of three major components, the HIPAA Privacy rules, Security rules, and Breach Notification rules.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals' medical records and other individually identifiable health information (collectively defined as “protected health information”) and applies to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and those health care providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically.

HIPAA was created to “improve the portability and accountability of health insurance coverage” for employees between jobs.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-191, was enacted on August 21, 1996.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for administering and enforcing these standards, in concert with its enforcement of the Privacy Rule, and may conduct complaint investigations and compliance reviews.

PHI is health information in any form, including physical records, electronic records, or spoken information. Therefore, PHI includes health records, health histories, lab test results, and medical bills. Essentially, all health information is considered PHI when it includes individual identifiers.

To become HIPAA certified you should take a HIPAA certification course, and there are many such courses available, both online and offline yet none are recognized by HHS as of 2015.  Online courses are particularly convenient because they can be taken when it suits you. You can also undergo HIPAA certification training in specific aspects of the Act ranging from an overall understanding of its general, requirements, to training in specific regulations encompassed by the Act, such as those appertaining to security, administration and auditing.

This helps train specialists who will ultimately be responsible for managing these aspects of HIPAA in their own health care units or organizations. It is not only organizations that are directly connected with HIPAA that should receive HIPAA certification training, but also those that do business with them.

A HIPAA authorization form gives covered entities permission to use protected health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, or health care operations.

No, a non-medical person cannot be prosecuted for violating HIPAA. HIPAA applies only to healthcare providers; however, fiduciaries owe a duty of confidentiality.

Health-care providers are careful to avoid HIPAA's costly penalties for violations. After a patient dies and the family is notified, HIPAA forbids medical staff from disclosing the cause of death for 50 years afterward

Your complaint must: Be filed in writing by mail, fax, e-mail, or via the OCR Complaint Portal. Name the covered entity or business associate involved, and describe the acts or omissions, you believed violated the requirements of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that a deceased individual's PHI remain protected for 50 years following the date of the person's death.

After the investigation, OCR will issue a letter with the results of the investigation. If it's found that you, the practitioner, did not comply with the HIPAA rules, then you must agree to 1) voluntarily comply with the rules, 2) take corrective action if necessary, and 3) agree to a resolution.

The HIPAA privacy rule applies to "covered entities", and even though employers are generally not covered entities, they are definitely affected by the rules applying to entities that are covered.

HIPAA does not protect all health information. Nor does it apply to every person who may see or use health information. HIPAA only applies to covered entities and their business associates.

The minimum fine for willful violations of HIPAA Rules is $50,000. The maximum criminal penalty for a HIPAA violation by an individual is $250,000. Restitution may also need to be paid to the victims. In addition to the financial penalty, a jail term is likely for a criminal violation of HIPAA Rules.

Civil penalties can be issued to any person who is discovered to have violated HIPAA Rules. The Office for Civil Rights can impose a penalty of $100 per violation of HIPAA when an employee was unaware that he/she was violating HIPAA Rules up to a maximum of $25,000 for repeat violations.

Yes, Dropbox has informed that it is HIPAA compliant because it will sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). It also offers access control, allowing only authorized personnel to access ePHI, along with activity logs and audit controls to track PHI.

Microsoft Teams enables simple, secure collaboration and communication with chat, video, voice, and healthcare tools in a single hub that supports compliance with HIPAA, HITECH, and other regulations.

Vaccination information is classed as PHI and is covered by the HIPAA Rules. However, HIPAA only applies to HIPAA-covered entities – healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses – and their business associates. If an employer asks an employee to provide proof that they have been vaccinated in order to allow that individual to work without wearing a facemask, that is not a HIPAA violation as HIPAA does not apply to most employers.

HIPAA hosting refers to website, application or data storage and hosting services that comply with the physical safeguard requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule. HIPAA hosting is an important part of the requirements needed for application developers to ensure HIPAA compliance of their solutions.

HIPAA-compliant cloud storage services are available which offer total protection for stored data, with robust access controls and strong encryption for data at rest and in transit to and from the storage server.