NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Notice of Privacy Practices

Notice of Privacy Practices

The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) is a federal law that requires each federal agency to follow privacy and records management rules for most compilations of personal information maintained by the agency. Changes in information technology have made significant parts of the act outdated. The Privacy Act of 1974 has sometimes been called a Watergate reform because it became law at the end of the Congress that served during the resignation of President Richard Nixon. However, concerns about privacy and computers were widespread by the early 1970s, and the law's intellectual origins are deeper than a response to political events. Congressional hearings on privacy and computers date back to the mid-1960s.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. There were two main concerns behind the law. The first is related to employees fearing to switch jobs due to the potential of losing medical insurance coverage for preexisting health problems such as diabetes or hypertension. HIPAA provides increased protection to employees in that situation.

The second concern behind the law was the increasing use of electronic storage of medical records. Such storage eases communications between, for example, the patient's health care provider and insurance company. However, it also increases the risk of sensitive health care information about a particular patient being shared with the wrong parties. Often, private medical records must pass through a number of hands during activities such as the processing of insurance claims. Even more hands are involved with the complex decisionmaking processes and auditing that take place in HMOs and hospitals. In addition, medical records stored on computer hard drives and portable storage devices such as CDROMs are vulnerable to hacking attacks and/or ...