u/HIPPAbot on Reddit
The Gist
Really?!
u/HIPPAbot is a bot account on Reddit that will reply with the correct acronym when it detects a comment with the phrase “HIPPA” which is the most common incorrect spelling of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
HIPAA is a law in the United States that regulates information that is collected because a person is seeking healthcare.
The law’s origins in 1996 lie in creating federal standards for allowing employees to have health insurance coverage when they changed jobs (the P for “portability”) and for digitizing medical claims data and records (the A for “accountability”).
What Now?
The u/HIPPAbot not only brings awareness that HIPAA is often misspelled, but also that it’s easily misunderstood and recently, there have been a lot of HIPAA inaccuracies about masks and vaccination statuses.
HIPAA is mistaken as the “Health Information Privacy Protection Act” but that law doesn’t exist. There is a privacy provision in HIPAA, but it applies to “covered entities” like healthcare providers (doctors, hospitals, etc.) and health insurers to follow certain protocols to keep your protected health information secure and private.
HIPAA’s privacy rule also requires that healthcare providers give you a notice of their privacy practices and allow you to access your own medical records. In fact, a lot of HIPAA complaints from patients aren’t about privacy violations but about lack of access to medical records.
Too Long; Didn’t Read
Check out our TikTok about u/HIPPAbot on Reddit.
About Wingspan Health
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We connect all your online doctor accounts in one place and help you make use of it. Our tool is currently accessible through our website and is free for all users.
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