If you are working for the health care industry, you must have come across the term HIPAA, (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Certain regulations can be confusing initially but once you are with it, you can follow them.
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA compliance is a living entity health care organizations need to implement in business to protect the privacy and integrity of the protected health information. The regulatory act was created to establish the legal aspect of protected health information. PHI is the combination of identifying information like the address and name. For instance, if you know that your mother is diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, that’s PHI.
When it comes to the importance of HIPAA, there are countless reasons behind it. However, the key reason behind the use of HIPAA is to ensure the privacy and security of the patient. In other words, it provides a proper framework safeguarding the details and restricting access to the third party. Any health organization dealing with PHI needs to have the physical and process security measures accordingly.