The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was implemented on April 14, 2003. HIPAA sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient data. The HIPAA Privacy Rule addresses the saving, accessing and sharing of medical and personal information of any individual, while the HIPAA Security Rule more specifically outlines national security standards to protect health data created, received, maintained or transmitted electronically, also known as electronic protected health information (ePHI).
Related HIPAA Sites: www.HIPAA.org