Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

In response to growing concerns about keeping health information private, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The legislation includes a privacy rule that creates national standards to protect individuals’ personal health information. Most health-care providers in the country are required to implement these standards by April 14, 2003.

A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to assure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public's health and well being.

The Rule strikes a balance that permits important uses of information, while protecting the privacy of people who seek care and healing. Given that the health care marketplace is diverse, the Rule is designed to be flexible and comprehensive to cover the variety of uses and disclosures that need to be addressed.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, requires health care professionals to protect privacy and create standards for electronic transfers of health data. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services will enforce the regulations and impose penalties on institutions that do not make a good-faith effort on privacy and security.

HIPAA came about because of the public's concern about how health care information is used. HIPAA gives patients more control over their own health information. Gramic Research Laboratory (GRL) is taking steps to provide you, our patient, with these patient rights, which include the right:

    * To inspect and obtain a copy of your health information.

    * To request that Gramic Research Laboratory amend health information in your records.

    * To receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your health information.

    * To request that we restrict the use and disclosure of your health information.

    * To request how and where we may contact you about medical matters.

    * To receive a written notice of how we may use your health information.

HIPAA requires health care providers like GRL to follow certain rules to protect the privacy of patients' health information. For instance, GRL employees are not allowed to access information on patients unless they need the information to perform their jobs. Employees have received training on how to protect patient information, whether that information is spoken, on paper, or kept in a computer.

The Gramic Research Laboratory is participating in this effort along with the majority of other health-care providers in the United States. Compliance with the HIPAA privacy rule is important to continuing our tradition of patient confidentiality.

At GRL, patients have a right to privacy! If you have a question about HIPAA or wish to report a privacy concern, please do not hesitate to contact us.

E-mail: Info@Gramiclab.com