Utah HIPAA Laws
- HIPPA laws in Utah apply to all facets of the health care industry including Medicaidhealth centre sign. access to health centre image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
The Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996 ensures the protection of all healthcare information in the United States. HIPAA charges each state like Utah with developing strategies to safeguard patient records and healthcare information to ensure information regarding care is only viewed by the appropriate medical professional. - HIPAA laws in Utah protect healthcare transactions during the transport of information from the healthcare provider to the insurance company. The laws protect a patient's information from his own insurance company by only allowing the company to review the information for the purposes of billing and approving treatment. An insurance company may not simply ask to see a patient's medical records at any time and, in fact, these organizations are forbidden to view them unless one of two above-mentioned reasons is requested.
- According to the Utah Department of Health's website, medical records from hospitals, healthcare providers, health insurance providers and health plans are protected in written, electronic or oral form under HIPAA. The release of patient information may never be done without the consent of the patient and may only be released in the smallest means possible to accomplish the task for which these records are being made available. Releasing someone's medical records without consent can cost a healthcare professional his job.
- According to the website of the Utah Attorney General's office, HIPAA regulations do not extend to those diagnosed with diseases that must be revealed to protect the interest of the public health. This disclosure may be made even without the patient's written release which runs contrary to other HIPAA regulations. Healthcare institutions, mental health facilities, clinics, nursing homes and childcare programs are required under HIPAA to submit information related to communicable and highly infectious diseases.
