Wondering what all those new forms are about?
What HIPAA means for you as a patient

You’re not alone. In the course of trying to do a good thing – make your health care records more private and secure in an age where hackers are becoming more sophisticated – Congress signed into law an act called HIPAA in 1996.

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. In short, it has entirely changed the way members of the medical profession must handle your files to guarantee they are only seen by individuals who have a valid reason to review your personal information. HIPAA officially went into effect April 14.

What does it mean?

“I’d like to think it doesn’t mean a lot to us,” says Dr. Steve Gustafson, of Gustafson and Morningstar, D.D.S. “We didn’t need an act of Congress to tell us a patient’s privacy is a sacred thing.

“We keep our files coded, our computers pass-worded, and only discuss or share information about a patient on a need to know basis. That’s pretty much one of the benefits of all the continuing educational programs we all attend – you learn just how important a person’s privacy is to them.”

Doctors and dentists not as diligent as Dr. Gustafson could face serious problems. HIPAA stipulates, basically, that if a medical professional with access to a person’s medical records abused those records, such as discussed them with someone who had no business knowing that information about that person, the medical professional can be fined up to $250,000 and jailed for 10 years, or both.

They’re not kidding around this time.

For example, many medical offices have sign-in sheets. Under HIPAA, those may be a thing of the past, because someone behind you could look and see all the people waiting to see the dentist. “We don’t use sign-up sheets anyway – never have,” says Candy Christie, who is the practice administrator for Dr. Steve’s office. HIPAA stipulates each office must have a privacy official – someone who is familiar with the rules of HIPAA and can help do anything from file paperwork correctly to mediate mild disputes.

In some general ways, HIPAA will simplify life for the patient. But specifically, dental patients won’t notice much of a difference at all because HIPAA’s rules are very similar to OSHA’s, which went into effect several years ago.

“We already were in compliance then, too, but it was a wake-up call for other dental practices,” Dr. Steve said. Basically, OSHA mandated certain standards of privacy and sterilization be met – such as wearing gloves and protective glasses – when the issue of whether someone infected with HIV could be a dental assistant, or how to treat that person if he or she came to your practice.

Drs. Steve and Shari want you to be comfortable with and informed about HIPAA. Soon, probably on your next visit, you’ll be given a Notice of Privacy Practices and asked to sign a statement saying you received the notice. Candy, who has taken several classes in HIPAA specifically for that purpose, can answer further questions.

“We want our patients informed and at ease with the new laws, which, as I said, we were practicing well before they were mandated by Congress. This is clearly a case of treating a person as we would be treated, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Dr. Steve.