HIPAA and Notice of Privacy Practices
HIPAA protects any health-related records that identify an individual, such as a person’s billing and administrative records, testing results, payment files, eligibility records, etc. HIPAA calls this information about individuals protected health information.
The Data Practices Act and HIPAA give people certain rights for protection or the information and who has access to data an agency collects, maintains, uses and disseminates.
Whenever people are asked to provide private or confidential information, the agency must provide them with a Notice of Privacy Practices. This notice has also been called the Tennessen Notice, Practices Rights Statement or Privacy Act Notice.
The Notice of Privacy Practices describes why information is being collected and who will have access to it. The Notice of Privacy Practices identifies who will have access, therefore, counties and providers do not have to get other written consent forms to disclose data to persons listed on the Notice of Privacy Practices.