HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It is an extensive federal law that covers many diverse issues including health insurance portability, fraud/abuse and the Administrative Simplification mandate. Under the Administrative portion of the rule, four main regulations are specified. These include 1) privacy standards; 2) security standards; 3) unique health identifiers and 4) transaction and code set standards.

It is the policy of Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. that all personnel must preserve the integrity and the confidentiality of medical and other sensitive information pertaining to our clients. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. and its officers, employees, and agents have the necessary medical and other information to provide the highest quality medical care possible while protecting the confidentiality of that information to the highest degree possible so that clients do not fear to provide information to Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. and its officers, employees, and agents for purposes of treatment.

Patients will have increased knowledge about and more control over their individually identifiable health information. This includes what information is shared, with whom and for what purposes. And all entities that receive personal health information are responsible for ensuring that the information is effectively protected. Patients' rights include:

• Right to receive a notice of privacy practices
• Right to inspect and copy their designated record sets---special provisions apply to psychotherapy notes
• Right to amend records
• Right to obtain an accounting of disclosures
• Right to request restriction on use and disclosure of protected health information
• Right to have an avenue to make a complaint about violations