HIPPA and Your Group Health Insurance Plan:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has changed how many businesses process their group health insurance claims. There are many new regulations, now in place, to protect your employee's health information and there are specific ways that you will be required to handle this information now and in the future.

First, if you have fewer than 50 employees, you currently do not need to worry about HIPPA. However, you should still treat your employee's private information with respect and it is a good idea to follow the rules set down by HIPPA for your safety and the safety of your employees. Even if you do not have to abide by HIPPA regulations, your insurance company will. It is important to have a working understanding of these regulations to ensure that no mistakes are made.

If you do have more than 50 employees, you are required by law to follow HIPPA regulations. Let's take a look at what that means for your small business.

The main reasoning behind HIPPA is that access to employee health information should only be granted for the following reasons: Medical operations, medical treatment and payment for medical services. Any other access is now considered unlawful and may carry heavy fines.

In this digital age, it is becoming more difficult to protect employee information from hackers and prying eyes. HIPPA was instituted to put a clamp on this information to afford better security and to set up regulations to enforce this security.

There are fines for companies that unlawfully disclose employee health information. These fines start at $100 per incident but may go as high as $250,000 and up to ten years in prison if HIPPA regulations are broken.

What does this mean for your small business? It can mean curtailing employee gossip, particularly if you have employees that process health claims in your company. Here is an example of a common problem. Mary processed a claim for Jim who works in another department. Mary has lunch with Sue and tells Sue that Jim won't be able to make it to the company bowling night because he injured his back.

On the surface, this seems like a harmless transfer of information. However, under HIPPA, this could mean that you would have to pay at least $100 and possibly more, depending on the situation.

It is very important to educate your employees, especially the ones who handle medical claims, about HIPPA and what you expect of them in regards to these new regulations. The issue goes beyond simple discussion when you look at the way medical claims are now processed, through email and electronically. If someone accidentally receives an email containing health information for another employee, your company would be guilty of breaking HIPPA regulations.

Another issue facing small businesses is potential hackers who may be able to access company health records, if they are stored on the Internet or in a company intra-net. In the past, you may have had to worry about someone breaking into your file cabinet, which was in most cases, unlikely. Now, with more businesses using the Internet for storage and communication, the risks to their employees have skyrocketed.

Although HIPPA is changing the way people do business, it is for a good reason. You would not be pleased if someone else knew your medical history and your employees doubtlessly feel the same way. Everyone has a basic right to their privacy and HIPPA has been enacted to protect this right and alter potentially dangerous ways that information can be shared.

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