How HIPAA Affects the Handling of Medical Information

A native of Ambler, Pennsylvania, Brad Rostolsky is a partner at Philadelphia office of Reed Smith. At work, Brad Rostolsky deals with various legal issues affecting the health care industry, including those involving health care privacy.

There are numerous laws that govern how health care entities treat medical information. These laws operate in order to facilitate smoother information flow between members of the healthcare team in balance with the need to keep patient level information private and secure.

One such federal law is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which is regarded as the baseline federal legislation that regulates health care information. There are various ways that the HIPAA protects medical information. Among them, it creates a system which controls how certain health information is being disclosed. In relation to this, it establishes the rights of individuals pertaining to their health information.

Additionally, it institutes security standards for regulated entities when they manage or transmit electronic patient information. It must be noted, however, that HIPAA only affects defined regulated entities, which includes health care providers, health care insurers, health care clearinghouses, and vendors to any of the aforementioned types of entities that need to use protected health information to provide their services. Information used by entities not regulated under HIPAA does not implicate the various privacy and security protections afforded under HIPAA.