The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was a United States Federal statute enacted by the 404th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. The primary purpose of this act was to “establish guidelines for managing health information and for encouraging quality health care.” It also sought to protect patient records, provide for consumer access to such records, and make sure that the records are confidential. It was later included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as Title IV of the Act. The main provision of the act is regarding insurance companies and their rights to gather information about an individual’s health.
This act was a response to the privacy concerns that were raised by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This concern was primarily due to the fact that the original intention of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was to protect the privacy rights of individuals. However, in the end it turned out that the Act could actually make it easier for insurance companies to get personal information about an individual. As such, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was changed to prevent insurance companies from using or selling health information about an individual without their permission.
Click here For NPI number lookup
One of the biggest problems with the original intention of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was that it allowed too much freedom for insurance companies. For example, they were not bound to tell an individual about certain health conditions, nor were they required to tell them if they treat them. As a result, many individuals suffered unnecessarily, because they did not know that they had conditions that would prevent them from obtaining health insurance coverage. Also, some …