The anxious wait endured by health care organizations ended when the final Security Rules for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) were released in February. For most, the news was confirmation that their improved secure infrastructures conformed with HIPAA's directives, which require large entities to put in place various security and privacy protocols to safeguard confidential patient data and other critical information.
Although the required compliance date for the Security Rules is April 21, 2005, health care organizations have been tasked with developing security-based procedures to coincide with the Privacy Rule, which comes into effect this month. Simply put, one cannot achieve privacy without security. (See our March edition Special Report.)
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