Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is HIPAA?
A: HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and requires us to implement processes with respect to protected health information as well as inform individuals about how we protect their information.

Q: How will HIPAA change my job?
A: HIPAA may not change your job significantly, but we will all be trained on what we need to know so that we can be sure that we are protecting health information against unauthorized use.

Q: Who has to be "HIPAA compliant?"
A: By April 14, 2003, all health care providers and payers across the nation will have trained their staff and will have implemented policies and procedures designed to provide uniform privacy rights.

Q: Who is responsible for patient privacy?
A: Each one of us.

Q: What is confidential information?
A: Confidential information is any health information or billing information that can be linked to an individual. If you know that John Jones was a patient and received treatment for a broken leg, this is confidential information. If you know that John Jones has Blue Cross insurance and was billed $5,000 for treatment for his broken leg, this is confidential information. If you know that during 2001, 185 patients were treated in the emergency department for ear infections, that is not confidential information because it does not identify the specific patients or list any identifiers such as birth date, medical record number, etc.

Q: What can I do today to protect a person’s confidentiality?
A: A good HIPAA privacy exercise is to put yourself in your person’s shoes. As an individual, how would you like your caregivers to protect your personal health information? If you can limit who sees or hears health information, you’ll be taking the first steps to ensuring our commitment to protecting health information.

Q: Who can I talk to if I have a question about patient privacy or confidentiality?
A: If you have a question or concern about HIPAA privacy, contact your Privacy Coordinator or the University Privacy Office at 624-7447 or privacy@umn.edu.

Click here to confidentially report an incident that may violate our committment to protecting personal health nformation.