If you’ve ever visited a doctor, picked up a prescription, or filled out medical forms, you’ve probably heard the term HIPAA. What is it and why is it important for patients?
What is HIPAA?
Before the 1990s, there were no consistent national standards for protecting patients’ medical data in the United States. When HIPAA was enacted, healthcare was rapidly moving from paper records to electronic health systems. Hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies all had their own ways of handling information, and some weren’t very secure.
- HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a U.S. law passed in 1996. Its main purpose is to protect your personal health information and to make sure it’s used and shared safely.
HIPAA was introduced to:
What HIPAA Covers
HIPAA applies to certain organizations called “covered entities” and their “business associates.”
If a company handles health information as part of healthcare operations, HIPAA applies to them.
What information is protected?
Under HIPAA, your Protected Health Information (PHI) includes any data that can identify you, combined with details about your health.
Examples of PHI include:
- Your name, address, or date of birth
- Medical records and test results
- Diagnoses, prescriptions, and treatment plans
- Insurance details or billing information
Basically, if it’s personal and health-related, it’s PHI.
The HIPAA privacy rule
This rule sets limits on who can see and share your health information:
- Doctors and nurses can share your data only for your treatment.
- Insurance companies can use it only to pay for your care.
- Your information cannot be shared with employers, marketers, or anyone else without written permission.
You also have rights under this rule, such as the right to access your records, request corrections, and know who has accessed your data.
The HIPAA security rule
The Security Rule focuses on protecting electronic health information (known as ePHI). It requires healthcare organizations to take technical, physical, and administrative steps to keep patents’ data safe, such as:
- Using strong passwords and encryption
- Setting up access controls so only authorized people can view records
- Regularly monitoring systems for suspicious activity
In short, the Security Rule ensures that your electronic medical records are guarded against hackers, loss, or misuse.
What happens if HIPAA is violated
Violations can happen when someone shares PHI without permission, fails to secure electronic data, or leaves patient information exposed or unencrypted.
The consequences can be serious, from fines that reach millions of dollars to criminal charges in extreme cases. Organizations are also required to notify patients and the government if a data breach exposes protected information.
How does HIPAA compare to European GDPR?
What information is not protected
HIPAA protects health information handled by covered entities, but not everything that might feel “private.” For example, HIPAA does not apply to:
- Health data stored in fitness apps or wearables (like Fitbit or Apple Watch)
- Health information you post on social media
- Data collected by non-medical websites
The rise of tele-health, AI, and mobile apps has created new privacy challenges that HIPAA wasn’t originally designed to handle. So, while your doctor’s office must follow HIPAA, your diet app doesn’t necessarily have to.
