The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by Congress to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system by standardizing electronic data interchange and to protect the confidentiality and security of health data.

HIPAA affects virtually all health care providers, health plans, public health authorities, health care clearinghouses, and self-insured employers, as well as life insurers, information systems vendors, various service organizations, and universities.

All health care organizations that maintain or transmit electronic health information must comply by April 2005. Under HIPAA, hospitals and health care providers must ensure that they control access to proprietary health information, as well as monitor and report on security events.

Colleton Software protects patient data from unauthorized access and prevents unauthorized employees from launching patient data files or hacking tools to gain access to restricted information. On December 28, 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the final Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

The goals of the HIPAA Policy are to:

Protect the privacy of the patient by protecting their data.

Focus healthcare providers with the importance of security and privacy.

Create a common set of standards for securing such data, whether on paper or electronically, and improving efficiencies within the healthcare industry.

Require efficiencies and security in the transfer of patient information.

Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services states in the Preamble to the Privacy Standards that the regulations are being instituted to:

1 - Protect and enhance the rights of consumers.

2 - Improve the quality of the healthcare system and restoring trust back in this system.

3 - Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery.