Patient Rights and Privacy

Patient Rights and Privacy

Patient Rights and Privacy

answer: The Privacy Rule is a federal law that grants you rights to your health information and establishes rules and limitations on who can access and receive it. The Privacy Rule applies to all types of protected health information retained by persons, whether electronic, written, or spoken.

Who Is Required to Obey These Laws?

The entities that must comply with HIPAA standards are referred to as “covered entities.”

Entities that are covered include:

Health insurance companies, HMOs, employer health plans, and various government-funded health-care systems such as Medicare and Medicaid are all examples of health plans.
Physicians, clinics, hospitals, psychologists, chiropractors, nursing homes, pharmacies, and dentists are among the many health care providers who perform certain business online, such as charging your health insurance electronically.
Health Care Clearinghouses are institutions that convert nonstandard health information obtained from another institution into a standard (such as a standard electronic format or data content), or the other way around.