SSIMED focuses on conducting business with integrity and in compliance with all applicable health information privacy laws including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Privacy Standards have been established by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to protect an individual’s identifiable health information from unauthorized disclosure. The Final Privacy Rule requires covered entities that transmit any health information in electronic form to maintain the confidentiality of all individually identifiable health information.

Components of HIPAA Administration Simplification.
The Administration Simplification Provisions of HIPAA require the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to disseminate regulations with respect to each of the following:

• Transaction and Code Set Standards
• Privacy Standards
• Security Standards
• Uniform Identifier Standards

Covered Entities.
Each of these standards will apply to the following groups as Covered Entities:

• Most health plans
• Clearinghouses that translate transactions from non-standard format to standard format
• All healthcare providers that electronically transmit any information with a covered transaction.

SSIMED's HIPAA Compliance Program.
As part of SSIMED’s strong commitment to HIPAA compliance, and to prevent violations of the health information privacy laws, SSIMED has designed a formal HIPAA Compliance Program. The compliance program has the following components:

• SSIMED has appointed a Privacy Officer who will be responsible for implementing, monitoring and maintaining the HIPAA Compliance Program
• SSIMED has appointed a Security Officer and a HIPAA Steering Committee, along with a specialized team of professionals to assist the Privacy Officer in implementing the HIPAA Compliance Program
• SSIMED has developed a HIPAA awareness and education program to be instituted organization wide, which will be ongoing as additional policies and procedures are developed
• SSIMED will monitor HIPAA compliance through the use of periodic audits as well as other methods of monitoring
• SSIMED will continue to stay one step ahead as we await the release of the final HIPAA Security Rule

HIPAA Websites.
Please visit any of the websites listed below for useful information about HIPAA:

HIPAA Administration Simplification
http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/admnsimp/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/

CMS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/

AHIMA American Health Information Management Association
http://library.ahima.org/bok/

American Medical Association
http://www.ama-assn.org/

Health Care Compliance Association
http://www.hcca-info.org/

American Hospital Association
http://www.aha.org/index.asp

American Health Lawyers Association
http://www.healthlawyers.org/

International Association of Privacy Officers
http://www.privacyassociation.org/

Office for Civil Rights
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/