HIPAA Update
Privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) require all health plan members and patients to receive a copy of their Notice of Privacy Practices. (You should also receive this notice from any health care provider you visit.)
This notice informs members about how the health plan may use or disclose an individual’s medical information. It talks about the way your medical information may be used for treatment, payment for services, business operations, and who the health plans may release information to about you. If the disclosure is not outlined in the Notice of Privacy Practices, the health plan must obtain a member’s permission before releasing the information.
The notice outlines your rights under HIPAA, which include:
- Accessing and amending medical information.
- Confidential communications.
- An accounting of how information about a member has been disclosed.
- Restricting the way your information is used.
- Filing a complaint about privacy rights.
Copies of the notice are posted at hr.osu.edu/hrpubs/hipaaprivacynotice.pdf or on the Managed Health Care Systems web site at osumhcs.com/news/privacy_notice.asp.