Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

​The federal HIPAA affects many aspects of health insurance, including privacy of patient information, security of medical information, and electronic exchange of medical information between physicians and health insurance plans. HIPAA rules have changed to reflect federal health care reform under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (generally referred to as the ACA). For more information, see Federal Health Care Reform.​

In the past, HIPAA required employers to provide certificates of creditable coverage to individuals switching from one health plan to another. This was a core legal requirement necessary to protect employees from pre-existing condition exclusions. This requirement was