In February of 2010, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, mandates made business associates accountable for the HIPAA security standards that apply to health plans and health care providers. The expanded definition of “business associates” clearly includes brokers and agents. HIPAA, meanwhile, came about in 1996 as the initial attempt to address the growing concern over the protection of medical records.
Other industries have been affected by privacy concerns as well. For example, the employment screening industry (background investigations for employment purposes) has specific regulations on the protection of personally identifying information. PHI and PII have common data elements and, thus, common requirements for their security. All of this has an impact on our clients, and, more specifically, on the HR managers we work with.
