All The HIPAA You Need to Know

Everyone has medical records, so everyone wants to be sure that the information held in medical records is as correct and secure as possible. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets standards that determine how a covered health entity, such as doctor, hospital, or pharmacy, is to generate and handle protected health information. Patient consent is required to release health information other than for four basic purposes.

1. To the Patient

The medical facility is the owner of the records that they generate in treating and caring for patients, but each individual has the right to obtain copies of medical records from every health provider they have seen. There are a variety of ways to order medical records, either directly from the facility or online through services that facilitate medical records requests.

2. For Treatment, Payment, or Health Care Operations

The law allows doctors and hospitals to share records amongst their colleagues and other departments in the health care facility to care for patients. It is also essential that health care providers be able to submit information about care and treatment they have rendered to insurance companies for payment, as well. These accepted purposes of medical record sharing are common sense principles that allow doctors to provide care and consult with one another and receive payment for services.

3. For certain public health purposes

The health records protection laws allow for the fact that many health care institutions, such as hospitals and clinics, are also research facilities that study broad trends in health care and disease management. Use of health records for academic and research purposes is permitted under certain circumstances by HIPAA for individually protected records without further authorization, as long as the researchers follow protocol of the rules and studies.

4. As required by law upon subpoena or other legal demand

Whenever medical records are relevant in a legal proceeding, as ruled by a judge, the medical facility has a duty to comply with the order and supply the records, even without an authorization from the patient. As with other exceptions, the legal duty to provide medical records is applied only within certain well-defined boundaries that the medical records provider must respect.

Order Your Medical Records for Stability and Security

For many people, the peace of mind of having a complete copy of their own medical records is worth the effort to order medical records from the doctor, hospital, or through a service that assists with the process. Whether traveling, moving, changing doctors or going through other transitions, the security of keeping a set of records, whether on a zip drive or CD for computer access or in paper format can save trouble and aggravation later. It is worth the time today to order medical records from OrderMedicalRecords.com so that you are secure in knowing that you have a complete set of your medical history information.