Overview of HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (which took effect in 2003) is a set of federal standards that requires healthcare organizations to implement security standards that protect (and keep up to date) patient data and to standardize on electronic data interchange (EDI). HIPAA was originally designed to speed the processing of medical claims by implementing certain standards for transmitting medical data. This of course raised information security concerns, so provisions were also made to protect the confidentiality of personal health information while in transit and while being stored.  There is an Evaluation Standard for HIPAA  Security Compliance with the HIPAA Academy.  HIPAA Academy evaluates products for their value, and grants its HIPAA  Academy Solutions Certification Seal.