Health Insurance Portability and Accountability

While medical and related records have always been confidential, now a federal law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) further increases the privacy of your health information which is held by health care providers or others covered by the law.

You will receive Notices of Privacy Practices from these persons. These Notices will tell you what these persons will do with your health information. These Notices will also list rights you have regarding this information, such as requesting restrictions on use or disclosure or how information is sent to you, inspection, copying and amendment of records, and accounting of disclosures. The Notices will tell you how to take advantage of these rights and some of the limits on your rights. In addition, the Notices will tell you how to make complaints when you feel your privacy rights have been violated.

If you want others, such as trusted friends or family members, to be able to receive your health information, like talking with your doctors or picking up your prescriptions, you should inquire about anything you must do to make sure this will happen. This is best done before a need arises.