January 22, 2002 Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343 ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION UNDER HIPAA: NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TRANSACTIONS, SECURITY AND PRIVACY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Overview: To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 included a series of "administrative simplification" provisions that required the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adopt national standards for electronic health care transactions. By ensuring consistency throughout the industry, these national standards will make it easier for health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to process claims and other transactions electronically. The law also requires the adoption of security and privacy standards in order to protect personal health information. HHS is issuing the following major regulations: �Electronic health care transactions (final rule issued); �Health information privacy (final rule issued); �Security requirements (proposed rule issued; final rule in development); �Unique identifier for employers (proposed rule issued; final rule in development); �Unique identifier for providers (proposed rule issued; final rule in development); �Unique identifier for health plans (proposed rule in development); and �Enforcement procedures (proposed rule in development). Although the HIPAA law also called for a unique health identifier for individuals, HHS and Congress have indefinitely postponed any effort to develop such a standard. Under HIPAA, most health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers who engage in certain electronic transactions have two years from the time the final regulation takes effect to implement each set of final standards. More information about the HIPAA standards is available at http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/.