Privacy Policy
Your Privacy is Important to Us
Here, at CEGA, we follow guidelines set forth by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-191, was enacted on August 21, 1996. Sections 261 through 264 of HIPAA require the Secretary of HHS to publicize standards for the electronic exchange, privacy and security of health information. Collectively these are known as the Administrative Simplification provisions.
HIPAA required the Secretary to issue privacy regulations governing individually identifiable health information, if Congress did not enact privacy legislation within three years of the passage of HIPAA. Because Congress did not enact privacy legislation, HHS developed a proposed rule and released it for public comment on November 3, 1999. The Department received over 52,000 public comments.
In March 2002, the Department proposed and released for public comment modifications to the Privacy Rule. The Department received over 11,000 comments.Final regulation, the Privacy Rule, was published December 28, 2000.
A text combining the final regulation and the modifications can be found at 45 CFR Part 160 and Part 164, Subparts A and E on the OCR website:
The final modifications were published in final form on August 14, 2002.
Every health care provider, regardless of size, who electronically transmits health information in connection with certain transactions, is a covered entity. These transactions include claims, benefit eligibility inquiries, referral authorization requests, or other transactions for which HHS has established person or organization that furnishes, bills, or is paid for health care. Using electronic technology, such as email, does not mean a health care provider is a covered entity; the transmission must be in connection with a standard transaction. The Privacy Rule covers a health care provider whether it electronically transmits these transactions directly or uses a billing service or other third party to do so on its behalf. Health care providers include all “providers of services” (e.g., institutional providers such as hospitals) and “providers of medical or health services” (e.g., non-institutional providers such as physicians, dentists and other practitioners) as defined by Medicare, and any other.
Reference: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html