The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)was passed as a law by Congress in 1996 to ensure patient safety, their rights and security of information, as well as to standardize and regulate transactions for services provided to them.

In response to the HIPAA standards the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published the final Security Rule. They state, “A covered entity must have in place appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information.

Organizations such as Health Level 7 (HL7), Leapfrog, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the federal government have taken noticeable steps to facilitate the progress of the U.S. healthcare IT industry in general.

HIPAA regulations have a profound impact on healthcare providers. The federal government has taken appropriate steps to ensure that all health care facilities, convert to electronic documentation and transactions for all patient information. They have included certain privacy and security measures related to sensitive areas such as authorization, access, authentication and encryption of data, which will ensures standardization. Noncompliance of HIPAA rules and regulations carries severe civil and criminal penalties. With this in mind MDTotal has been designed, from its inception to be HIPAA compliant in order to meet all regulatory, security, and patient privacy standards for transfer and storage of patient information. MDTotal is the market leader in adhering to these strict expectations and is committed to providing HIPAA compliance for its customers.

MDTotal.CA Software has been created with HIPAA as its pivotal theme; securing patient records, standardizing electronic billing and information to reduce national health care costs. While there are many facets of HIPAA, in reality all elements of the HIPAA ACT revolve around three key sets of standards: Strive to comply with HIPAA guidelines by learning to protect patient’s medical privacy. Strive to comply with HIPAA guidelines by appropriately maintaining patient information and billing processes in compliance with national standards. Strive to comply with HIPAA guidelines by providing appropriate security of patient records.

Adhering to HIPAA standardization allows a medical practice to increase efficiency and effectiveness of health care system, by creating standards for exchange of electronic data transactions and confidentiality of individual’s electronic health care information.