HIPAA Lawyers

If you have sought medical attention lately, you should have received a copy of the HIPAA policy. Many people have become so used to receiving it, they simply choose to “save a tree” and, instead, sign on the dotted line to show they’ve been offered a copy. But, what exactly is it?

The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) establishes, for the first time, a set of national standards for the protection of certain health information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to assure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public's health and well being. Given that the health care marketplace is diverse, the Rule is designed to be flexible and comprehensive to cover the variety of uses and disclosures that need to be addressed. At the same time, the Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of personal health information needed for patient care and other important purposes. When those rights have been abused, seeking the counsel of a HIPAA lawyer becomes necessary.

At Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P. (SHB), we understand the complex business, regulatory and litigation issues facing health care providers regarding HIPAA. Lawyers are often called upon to determine if a policy has been breached. Using our extensive experience, the HIPAA lawyers in our SHB Health Law Practice represent academic medical centers, health systems, continuing-care retirement communities, home health agencies, HMOs, medical staffs, ambulatory surgical centers, and individual medical practitioners in compliance and HIPAA matters; criminal investigations, enforcement actions and civil litigation; and a variety of corporate transactions.

HIPAA lawyers must remain at the forefront of all legislation and issues that affect the privacy policy. To ensure we are on the leading edge of all things related to HIPAA, lawyers at SHB are required to be proficient in securities law; public and private financing; antitrust compliance; labor and employment law; real estate; and all phases of court proceedings. Our HIPAA lawyers benefit from the size and experience of our firm, and they enjoy access to our extensive resources and technical infrastructure.

If you feel your HIPAA rights have been violated or if you’d like to learn more about the privacy policy, contact us today.