The University of Toledo

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

What is HIPAA?

HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The basic goals of HIPAA are to:

• Improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage for individuals and groups
• Promote the use of medical savings accounts
• Improve access to long-term care services and coverage
• Provide established policies, procedures, and safeguards for security and privacy of patient data and patient related systems
• Simplify administrative procedures

How does HIPAA affect me?

This law affects all faculty, staff, students and volunteers at the University of Toledo, as well as anyone who does business with us. Failure to comply with the HIPAA requirements can result in fines, loss of wages and in extreme cases, even prison.

Each member of the University of Toledo Community and business associates will need to go through privacy and security training. There may be new rules about how to handle information or what information is available to you in your job. There will be an increasing focus on communication with regard to confidentiality. Responsibility for reporting any suspected breech in privacy or security will become each person’s duty as a member of the UT Community.

For more information, please contact:

Lynn Hutt , Privacy officer for HIPAA

Bob Hogle, Security officer for HIPAA