The Government's Role

In 1996, the federal government passed H.I.P.A.A., which may be the single most significant federal legislation affecting the health care industry since the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1965. Title I of the act improves the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage for millions of American workers and their families.

Title II provides for Administrative Simplification, which requires the development of standards for the electronic exchange of health care information. It also requires rules to protect the privacy of personal health information, to establish security requirements to protect that information, and to develop national standard identifiers.