HIPAA isn't short for hippopotamus

Many of you may have heard the acronym HIPAA and wondered what it stands for. No, HIPAA is not a large, water-dwelling creature one might find at the zoo, but an act passed by Congress in 1996 that protects medical privacy.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act commissioned the Department of Health and Human Services to create regulations dealing with medical privacy. These regulations were finalized in August 2002, and they require health care providers, including universities, to write and approve policies that implement the federal regulations by April 14, 2003. In the 2001 session, the Texas Legislature also passed the Medical Records Privacy Act, which also affects UNT.

Because UNT has a number of departments that provide health care in some form, and because the university conducts research that uses human subjects, we must adhere to these regulations. Last summer, a survey of UNT departments identified those units that provide such services. The directors or staff from those departments have been meeting as an ad hoc committee since September, and they have nearly completed the policy that UNT needs.

Why is this important? If your faculty research includes the use of human subjects, the new regulations affect your research. If you work in a department that provides health services, you will need extra training to become familiar with the many new regulations to protect medical records. In January, the Student Health and Wellness Center organized a whole day of training, and about 80 faculty and staff from UNT attended. Research faculty will also have special training this semester.

Will this affect all of you? Yes — even those of you who don't provide health services or conduct research that includes the use of human subjects. How? Well, for example, you might accidentally receive a fax that contains medical information that was erroneously sent to you instead of to the health center. You need to know how to properly destroy that fax. Or, you may be a supervisor who receives a medical excuse from an employee. You need to know what measures you must take to keep that information confidential. Federal law requires that everyone at UNT be kept current on our implementation of the privacy regulations. Future communications, including another column that will appear in InHouse, will address how the new policy affects classroom instructors and those staff who do not work in health care.

Paul Dworak is director of compliance in the president's office and a member of the College of Music faculty.

Other featured articles in this issue

• Search for UNT College of Engineering dean succeeds with appointment
• UNT names Philip J. Romano inaugural recipient of humanitarian award
• Law conference addresses key higher education issues
• Faculty and staff can vote now for the 2003 Homecoming theme
• Five TAMS students named semifinalists in national Intel science competition
• Admissions Marketing Report awards best of show title to UNT undergraduate viewbook
• Making sure UNT maintains security
• NEA funds national project based on UNT program

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