HIPAA Privacy/Security Rules: where we've been and where we are going. Updates from the HITECH Act to dramatically impact HIPAA privacy/security.

When HIPAA was passed, many applauded the portability aspects of HIPAA that allowed for continuing healthcare coverage for individuals who lost their jobs and attendant healthcare insurance. But few back in 1996 anticipated the dramatic impact that HIPAA would have later on the privacy and security of health information in the United States. This article discusses not only the history of HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, but also dramatic new privacy and security laws under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, passed February 17, 2009, that will affect how physicians and other healthcare providers comply with the many and sometimes onerous requirements of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.