The final privacy regulation is applicable
to covered entities that are defined as health plans, health
care clearinghouses and those health care providers who conduct
certain financial and administrative transactions electronically:
- Group Health Plan - an employee welfare
benefit plan including insured and self-funded plans established
by the plan sponsor that provides for medical care benefits
and that either has 50 or more participants or administered
by another business entity.
- Employee welfare plan, or any other
plan that is established or maintained for the purpose of offering
or providing health benefits to the employees of two or more
employers.
- Any other individual or group plan,
or combination of individual or group plans, that provides
or pays for the cost of medical care.
- An HMO.
Although employers are not directly listed
as covered entities under HIPAA, their role as plan sponsor for
the group health plan(s) they create, require most employers
to comply with HIPAA mandates. It is suggested that employers
that have a question as to how they should comply with HIPAA
requirements, contact their legal advisor(s) to provide them
with advice on how these regulations specifically effect their
organization and the manner in which they collect, store and
transmit data related to their employees and their covered dependents.
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