HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law to prevent abuses of personal health information including unauthorized access. Institutions that must comply with HIPAA are called covered entities. Covered entities include any and all organizations and individuals who retain or collect health relations information including hospitals, medical centers, insurance companies, doctors, dentists and collection agencies. Technically every employer in the United States with completed health insurance applications or injury reports on file is considered a covered entity.

Every covered entity has the need to collect an ddiscard protected health information. Casually discarding patient information in the trash is not acceptable. All patient information should discarded in locked bins and shredded appropriatelyÉthis includes phone messages, prescriptions, test results and all medical records.