The purpose of this law is to ensure that the various organizations possessing your health-related information take all necessary steps to protect your privacy. These organizations include everyone from your insurance company to your individual complementary and alternative medicine providers.
HIPAA protection includes and extends beyond electronic information to other types of related patient data, including everything from written patient records and forms to telephone conversations. The types of information covered by HIPAA include anything related to your past, present, or future physical or mental health, related healthcare services received and payment-related data.
The HIPAA protections cover two areas: physical protection and data access.
Providers must have their privacy procedures documented, although they do have discretion on what to include. They must appoint a privacy officer and provide staff training to ensure federal law compliance with HIPAA. All this is done to help ensure the confidentiality that is essential to the trusting relationship between you and your providers.
We at myNDonline fully support HIPAA guidelines. We strongly advocate that all our associated organization providers adhere to these policies as well. If you have any HIPAA-related questions or concerns, we strongly advise you to discuss this with your naturopathic, alternative or complimentary medicine practitioner. We would also be happy to answer any questions you may have about our HIPAA compliance policies.
HIPAA
Through the 1990s, as health maintenance organizations (HMOs) increased their dominance of the healthcare industry, patients and providers experienced an increasing level of concern about the amount of personal information these organizations kept about individual patients. Patients and providers were worried about not only the use of these records, but also the abuse of this information, by both the HMOs themselves and malicious third-parties. In response to this, Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which took effect in 2003.The purpose of this law is to ensure that the various organizations possessing your health-related information take all necessary steps to protect your privacy. These organizations include everyone from your insurance company to your individual complementary and alternative medicine providers.
HIPAA protection includes and extends beyond electronic information to other types of related patient data, including everything from written patient records and forms to telephone conversations. The types of information covered by HIPAA include anything related to your past, present, or future physical or mental health, related healthcare services received and payment-related data.
The HIPAA protections cover two areas: physical protection and data access.
Physical protection
Regarding physical protection, healthcare-related organizations are compelled to make sure they have policies and procedures in place to provide physical, technical and administrative safeguards for your data.Data access
Data access refers not only to your ability to access your own records and correct errors, but also who can access your records. Your insurance company and healthcare providers may not use your personal information for marketing purposes without your explicit consent, and they cannot get this consent without first providing a complete explanation of how this data may be used. One area in which your information may be shared is between providers working in concert to ensure the highest quality of care, such as when your general provider communicates with a specialist to whom he has referred you.Providers must have their privacy procedures documented, although they do have discretion on what to include. They must appoint a privacy officer and provide staff training to ensure federal law compliance with HIPAA. All this is done to help ensure the confidentiality that is essential to the trusting relationship between you and your providers.
We at myNDonline fully support HIPAA guidelines. We strongly advocate that all our associated organization providers adhere to these policies as well. If you have any HIPAA-related questions or concerns, we strongly advise you to discuss this with your naturopathic, alternative or complimentary medicine practitioner. We would also be happy to answer any questions you may have about our HIPAA compliance policies.
