HIPAA - What It Means To You

HIPPA - the acronym that stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act came into effect as of April 14, 2003 with significant regulations that impact the ways that health care providers must protect the health information of their customers. This regulation affects all health care providers including hospitals and clinics, physicians and dentists and health insurance companies including HMO's.

The regulation states it has three major purposes:

1. To protect and enhance the rights of consumers by providing them access to their health information and controlling the inappropriate use of that information
2. to improve the quality of health care in the U.S. by restoring trust in the health care system among consumers, health care professionals, and the multitude of organizations and individuals committed to the delivery of care
3. to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care delivery by creating a national framework for health privacy protection that builds on efforts by states, health systems, and individual organizations and individuals.

This regulation was enacted in response to the inappropriate use of health information in the past, including marketing of pharmaceutical products, termination of employment, and termination of services. By enacting this rule your health information can no longer be shared or sold for such purposes. You will have more control over who knows what and who has access to your health records. Your health information can be shared with health providers and others only with your permission.

While greatly improving patient privacy this regulation can also provide some roadblocks to caregivers and other family members who are trying to assist with healthcare needs. It may be wise to plan for those circumstances.

I spoke recently to someone who was quite frustrated by the HIPAA rules while her father was in the hospital. She is a Practical Nurse living several hundred miles from her parents. While there are siblings in the area she is the only one with a medical background. Her father was readmitted to the hospital from an inpatient rehab center after suffering a stroke. She phoned the hospital for information and was told that because of HIPAA they can't give any information over the phone. She asked what provisions the hospital was making for family from out of town getting information about a loved one. She was told that they will be instituting a code system that identifies people that the patient approved for access to information, but that process had not been instituted yet. This was very frustrating - they had instituted the regulations with out the appropriate provisions. The hospital did offer to connect her to her father's phone and she had to explain that what she needed was medical information not her Dad's personal opinion of why he is in the hospital.

If you are caregiver for a parent or other loved one be sure that you have appropriate documentation of permission to access medical information. The lack of this documentation could possible delay treatment, or worse could lead to treatment that does not meet with a loved one's wishes.