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HIPAA Project Team

HIPAA Background

Introduction

As passed by the United States Congress, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will institute administrative reforms that will be phased in over the period 2000–2003. Of major importance in the HIPAA legislation is the issue of data and transaction standardization—a mandate very few healthcare providers can sidestep if they bill third parties for services provided to patients.  The law also changes the way health care providers have to protect the privacy of a patient’s health information and contains security procedures that must be followed to protect the integrity of a patient's health information.   

HIPAA Project Team

In early March 2001, Dr. Michael Trujillo appointed Dr. Bob Harry, of his staff, to coordinate the national IHS HIPAA effort. To carry out his responsibilities, Dr. Harry has formed a multidisciplinary Team. This team will work with Dr. Harry to provide leadership and coordination of all efforts as IHS healthcare programs work to become HIPAA compliant. Oversight and management support for the HIPAA Team will be provided by a steering committee made up of the three IHS headquarters office directors.

The strategic plan developed by the headquarters HIPAA team calls for them to interpret the regulations and develop national policies needed to comply with them. The team will cooperate with regional and national I/T/U programs and provide them with related information and materials as they are developed for HIPAA compliance. Through the HQ HIPAA Team, Dr. Harry will monitor the progress of the HIPAA compliance effort by I/T/U programs.

It is expected that the IHS Area Offices will develop Area HIPAA compliance plans that will include policy development needed to achieve HIPAA compliance at the Area level. Also, the Area Offices will work with the local I/T/U programs in helping them become HIPAA compliant.

HIPAA Background

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill. It was first proposed with the simple objective to assure health insurance coverage after leaving a job. Congress added an Administrative Simplification section to the bill (see the Department of Health and Human Services Administrative Simplification Web site for more information).

The goal of the Administrative Simplification section of the bill was to save money. It was requested and supported by the health care industry because it standardized electronic transactions and required standard record formats, code sets, and identifiers.

The impact of Electronic Standardization, however, was that it increased risk to security and privacy of individually identifiable health information. After Congress did not provide legislation defining the privacy and security requirements of HIPAA, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was required to provide them.

There are currently four proposed or final rules from DHHS for HIPAA:

1. Transaction and Code Set standards (Final)
2. Privacy standard (Final)
3. Security standard (Final)
4. Identifier standards (Proposed)

Please email questions or comments to HIPAA Web Contact.