The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for implementing various unrelated provisions of HIPAA, therefore HIPAA may mean different things to different people. Here’s a directory of CMS’s business activities with regard to HIPAA.

HIPAA Health Insurance Reform

Title I of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services site for more information.

HIPAA Administrative Simplification

The Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA, Title II) require the Department of Health and Human Services to establish national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health plans, and employers. It also addresses the security and privacy of health data. Adopting these standards will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation’s health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in health care. Read more about HIPAA Administrative Simplification from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

More Information

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services