HIPAA
Congress
passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
in 1996 to create a privacy standard in protecting patients medical
records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors,
hospitals and other health care providers which took effect on April
14, 2003. These new standards, developed by the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS), provide patients with access to their medical
records and more control over how their personal health information
is used and disclosed. However, State laws providing more stringent
protections to consumers are not affected by this new rule.
HIPAA also included a provision designed to promote electronic health care transactions and require new safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of health information. In addition, uniform national standards for electronic commerce in the health care industry have been adopted to create more efficient processing of heath care transactions. These standards allow the health care industry to share electronic health care information using a common format and common set of codes and identifiers.
Quest Medical Claims will continue to monitor HIPAA standards and guidelines, including future modifications to the final rules, to ensure continued compliance. We are working to make our HIPAA compliance initiatives an integral part of how we do business. We are confident that our focus and commitment will minimize any impact on client relations and that we will continue to provide the high service levels our clients expect from us.