Medical Information And Privacy

Have you ever wondered exactly what constitutes a beach in medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or "HIPAA"? Or, have you ever felt certain that your rights to privacy concerning your medical information had been violated, but not known how to file a complaint, or with whom to file a complaint? As it happens, if your privacy has accidently or deliberately been breached in some way...say....the emergency department at your local hospital accidently sent your bill to another person, business, or government agency, instead of to you; and your injury, hospital visit, and insurance information are now common knowledge among people of whom you have never seen or heard, there is information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about exactly what is lawful and what is not lawful concerning the sharing of medical information. In a case such as the one above, the hospital would have sixty days to notify you that the breach had occurred, and would also be required to notify DHHS of the breach. DHHS even offers the convenience of an online link for the filing of a complaint and reminds everyone of the fact that it is against the law for any healthcare provider to retaliate in any way against a person who has filed a complaint.