Short for
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act, HIPAA provides national standards to protect the privacy of
personal health information. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the
health care system, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
of 1996, Public Law 104-191, included "Administrative Simplification" provisions
that required HHS to adopt national standards for electronic health care
transactions. Congress incorporated into HIPAA provisions that mandated the
adoption of Federal privacy protections for individually identifiable health
information.
[Source:
HIPAA Overview
(PDF)]
