Why is HIPAA important?

One of the original primary objectives for passing HIPAA was to ensure that employees who are between jobs have unbroken access to health care. While this remains an important part of the health care field, the more far-reaching objective for passing HIPAA––and the one more people are familiar with––was to prevent fraud by keeping personal health information safe and secure.

Protected health information includes, not just information about health conditions and procedures, but also information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, etc. Obviously, such information is private and important to keep private. Without HIPAA, health care organizations would have no obligation to keep it private. With HIPAA, patients can be assured that security measures have been put in places at all levels of health care to keep protected health information safe.

HIPAA also allows patients to access their own medical records and health information and to request that their health information be shared when moving from one provider to another. Perhaps most importantly, HIPAA also ensures that those who do not follow the rules will be held accountable for their actions.