Department of Mental Health Privacy Practices/HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law (Public Law 104-191), passed by Congress in 1996 that, among other things, protects an individual's right to keep and/or transfer his or her health insurance when moving from one job to another and sets out certain administrative procedures, like ensuring the privacy of an individual's protected health information and providing security for electronic data sharing of protected health information.