WHAT IS HIPAA?

HIPAA was an Act of Congress (Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) In HIPAA, Portability means being able to keep your heath insurance, like through COBRA, for instance. That is important to people, but that's certainly not what the HIPAA uproar is all about.

The HIPAA uproar is about all about accountability. Accountability means that the Federal Government is now regulating ALL U.S. health care providers, doctor's offices, etc. for complete privacy and security of ALL information regarding their patients. Penalties for HIPAA violations include fines starting at $100 each, and ranging all the way up to $250,000 and ten years in prison!

WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?

Did you know that the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lily "accidentally" revealed confidential contact information of patients who had been prescribed Prozac? How about the fact that tennis great Arthur Ashes' HIV status was leaked to a tabloid, forcing him to address it publicly? These and countless other violations of privacy are exactly what HIPAA is intended to combat.

Protected Health Information, (PHI) has been used by employers, politicians, marketers, insurance companies, and endless others to discriminate, punish, hire, fire, market and even blackmail you. This privileged information must be protected by somebody. That somebody is YOU, the health care professional. Why? Because an Act of Congress says so, that's why.

If you are a licensed medical provider of any kind, no matter how small your office is, you are, (or will soon be declared to be), a "covered entity" by the HIPAA regulations. HIPAA is here to stay, and unless you're considering a career change, your going to have to take it seriously.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

If you don't already have HIPAA compliance information, get it. There are printed materials, seminars, software packages of all kinds to help you reach compliance regulations. Also, see our tools on getting HIPAA compliant.

CALL 1-877-468-2721 TO SCHEDULE YOUR FREE HIPAA AUDIT NOW!