What is HIPAA?
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a United States federal law that was passed in 1996. HIPAA defines requirements for the appropriate use and safeguarding of protected health information (PHI). This includes electronic protected health information, or ePHI. The provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act includes updates to the HIPAA regulations that further strengthen the privacy and security of PHI and ePHI.