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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Public
Law 104-191 (HIPAA) was passed by Congress to reform the insurance
market and simplify health care administrative processes. The benefits
of HIPAA include lowering administrative costs and paperwork,
enhancing accuracy of data and reports, increasing customer
satisfaction, reducing cycle time and improving cash management.
HIPAA also allows persons to qualify immediately for comparable
health insurance coverage when they change their employment
relationships.
Title II, Subtitle F, of HIPAA gives HHS the authority to mandate
the use of standards for the electronic exchange of health care data;
to specify what medical and administrative code sets should be used
within those standards; to require the use of national identification
systems for health care patients, providers, payers (or plans), and
employers (or sponsors); and to specify the types of measures required
to protect the security and privacy of personally identifiable health
care information. The administrative simplification provisions of
HIPAA are intended to reduce the number of forms and methods of completing
claims, and other payment-related documents, and to use a universal identifier
for providers of health care. Another goal is to increase the use and
efficiency of computer-to-computer methods of exchanging standard health care
information. (from http://www.wedi.org/)
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