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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a Federal Regulation which was passed in 1996. It has been referred as the first comprehensive rule by many.

Part II of the HIPAA did not took effect until April 14, 2003. Part II of HIPPA regulates Privacy Rule in the context of usage and disseminations of individually identifiable health information. It was deemed to give individuals the right to decide and/or restrict access to their private health information. The Rule require that reasonable and relevant technical as well as physical and administrative safety measures be implemented with electronic individually identifiable health information. Covered entities under this Act are also required to institute new procedures to make sure patient privacy and the security of patient information under the law. Protected Health Information is any information about health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to an individual. Entities covered and are subject to the Department of Health and Human Services /DHHS/ regulation are: Healthcare clearinghouses i.e. public or private entities that process or assist the processing of nonstandard, health information data into standard data; Healthcare providers i.e. providers of medical or other health services and persons providing healthcare services or supplies; Health plans i.e. individual or group plans that provide or pay the cost of medical care (with the exception of liability and worker's compensation plans). Although Social Security Administration and Disability Determination Services are exempted from this regulation, as an agent of the government they still have obligations under the Privacy Act of 1974.

Regardless of this rosy Act, patients are still being forced to choose between their privacy and receiving health care both in perception and in factuality. Since the enforcement of this Rule in 2003 up to 2006, DHHS has received more than 19,000 complaint involving alleged violations in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, however, the agency has prosecuted only two criminal cases. In addition, the government has closed more than 73% of the cases filed by the public, either ruling that a violation did not occur or allowing health care providers and insurers to amend violations voluntarily without issuing any penalty. About 309 alleged complaints have been referred to Department of Justice. Common claims involved improper disclosure of medical information, poor security for records, failure to secure permission to disclose records or difficulty for patients seeking to obtain their own records which are in violation of the very Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Privacy of health information is still a hot issue being debated in the highly contested 2008 presidential election.