Health / Medical Topics |
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Pronunciation
Definition 1
A 1996 U.S. law that allows workers and their families to keep their health insurance when they change or lose their jobs. The law also includes standards for setting up secure electronic health records and to protect the privacy of a person’s health information and to keep it from being misused. Also called HIPAA and Kassebaum Kennedy Act. (NCI Dictionary)
Definition 2
Public Law 104-91, enacted in 1996, is designed to protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. HIPAA has separate provisions for the large and small group markets, and the individual market. HIPAA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to provide improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage, extending earlier provisions under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 ("COBRA"). (NCI Thesaurus)