It has the ability to advance clinical care, improve population health, and reduce costs. At the same time, this environment also poses new challenges and opportunities for protecting individually identifiable health information.
Federal policies and regulations are in place to help protect patient privacy and guide the nation’s adoption of health information technology.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is the main Federal law that protects health information.
In addition to HIPAA, other federal, state, and local laws govern the privacy, security, and exchange of healthcare information.
ONC provides a wide range of privacy and security resources and tools for both consumers and healthcare providers.
The privacy and security of patient health information is a top priority for patients and their families, health care providers and professionals, and the government. Federal laws require many of the key persons and organizations that handle health information to have policies and security safeguards in place to protect your health information — whether it is stored on paper or electronically.
