HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, requires healthcare professionals to protect privacy and create standards for electronic transfers of health data. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services will enforce the regulations and impose penalties on institutions that do not make a good-faith effort on privacy and security.

HIPAA came about because of the public's concern about how healthcare information is used. HIPAA gives patients more control over their own health information. The University of Kansas Cancer Center is taking steps to provide you, our patient, with these patient rights, which include the right:

• To inspect and obtain a copy of your health information
• To request that The University of Kansas Cancer Center amend health information in your records
• To receive an accounting of certain disclosures we have made of your health information
• To request that we restrict the use and disclosure of your health information
• To request how and where we may contact you about medical matters
• To receive a written notice of how we may use your health information

HIPAA requires healthcare providers like The University of Kansas Cancer Center to follow certain rules to protect the privacy of patients' health information. For instance, The University of Kansas Cancer Center employees are not allowed to access information on patients unless they need the information to perform their jobs. Employees have received training on how to protect patient information, whether that information is spoken, on paper or kept in a computer.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is participating in this effort along with the majority of other healthcare providers in the United States. Compliance with the HIPAA privacy rule is important to continuing our tradition of patient confidentiality.

At The University of Kansas Cancer Center, patients have a right to privacy. If you have a question about HIPAA or wish to report a privacy concern, please call Patient Relations at (913) 588-1290.

The Four Focus Areas of HIPAA

• Electronic Data Interchange 
• Security and Electronic Signature
• Patient Record Privacy
• Standard Identifiers:
  • Employer
  • Provider
  • Plan
  • Patient