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Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

If you work in the behavioral health service sector, it's likely that you've heard of HIPAA. You may not know what it stands for, or what it's supposed to do, but you've probably heard of it. That's good, because HIPAA is here, now, and it affects every one of the Coalition's members.

You can learn more in the following documents:

• CMS security guidance on remote access of EHR (January 2007)
• Analysis of the final HIPAA Security Rule
• Final Amendment to the HIPAA Privacy Rule (August 2002)
• NY State OMH HIPAA Rule Preemption Analysis

• HIPAA Privacy Rule Q&A with Robert Belfort of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP (4/29/03)
• Recent HHS Guidance on the Treatment of Flexible Spending Accounts under HIPAA (5/9/03)
• Application of HIPAA to Fully Insured Employer-Sponsored Health Plans (3/12/03)

• HIPAA Education Seminar Presentation: Transactions and Code Sets (PowerPoint slides from a presentation on 4/30/02)
• HIPAA Education Seminar Presentation: Privacy and Business Associate Relationships (PowerPoint slides from a presentation on 5/31/02)

• A general fact sheet on HIPAA from the Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/hipaa.html
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' main HIPAA webpage: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/
• The New York State Office of Mental Health's HIPAA page: http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/hipaa/hipaa_home.htm
• The New York State Medicaid program's HIPAA Information Center: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/medicaid/hipaa/hipaamain.htm
• The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is HHS's departmental component responsible for implementing and enforcing HIPAA's privacy regulations. Their main webpage: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/whatsnew.html
• If you applied for the delay to the Transactions and Code Sets Rule in October 2002, you will need to begin testing your electronic transactions by April 16th, 2003. A well known testing and certification service called Claredi has published a fact sheet on this requirement: http://www.npowerny.org/testing--claredi.pdf
• Two good sources of news relating to HIPAA are: http://www.hipaadvisory.com/news/ and http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/html/hipaa/HIPAA.cfm

Do you need help determining if you are a Covered Entity? CMS has put up a page help you figure it out: http://www.cms.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/support/tools/decisionsupport/default.asp

Are you a Coalition member looking for further information on HIPAA? Contact Karyn Krampitz.