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HIPAA-enabled forms

The original purpose of HIPAA was to make healthcare more efficient and secure while encouraging Americans to seek health coverage by reducing privacy risks. During the 1990s, many Americans were concerned about their medical information being shared over newly established electronic systems. With HIPAA, the U.S. government created a set of rules and regulations that helped protect patients’ medical information, reduced privacy concerns, and empowered medical professionals to use more efficient modern systems.

HIPAA enabled forms include features that help support compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. These include forms for medical history, online appointment scheduling, new patient enrollment, and more. However, there are two HIPAA-enabled forms that medical professionals most commonly use:

• Privacy forms: Doctors’ offices typically give these forms to patients on their first visit. They detail how the office might share PHI with covered entities.
• Authorization forms: Healthcare providers often use these forms, also known as release forms, to acquire permission to share PHI with designated individuals.

Using HIPAA enabled forms helps your office protect information a patient provides. These forms can support daily healthcare operations.

HIPAA is designed to protect personal health information, which means there are specific individuals and organizations that must adhere to the privacy rule. These subjects, also known as covered entities, include the following:

• Healthcare providers
• Health plans (e.g., health/dental/vision/prescription drug insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care insurers, employer-sponsored group health plans, and more)
• Healthcare clearinghouses
• Business associates to any of the above entities

These covered entities are required to comply with HIPAA and may face legal consequences for failing to do so. Their use and disclosure of PHI is regulated, and they must use it only for purposes permitted by HIPAA.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing HIPAA regulations. It began enforcing the HIPAA privacy rule in 2003. Since taking control of HIPAA regulations, the OCR has worked diligently to enact systematic changes in the American medical system that ensure the safety and security of individuals’ health information.

The main benefit of HIPAA is that it helps protect against the unauthorized use and disclosure of a person’s private medical information. This helps people control private and potentially sensitive information about their well-being and allows them to share such information with their doctors with protections against unauthorized disclosure.

HIPAA also holds regulated entities accountable for certain breaches and enforces a patient’s right to privacy with significant repercussions. Most medical professionals wouldn’t share this private information regardless. However, repercussions for unwanted disclosure bring patients peace of mind and help medical professionals get the most accurate information possible.

Protected health information (PHI) is certain individually identifiable health information healthcare entities receive detailing past, present, or future physical or mental health concerns or conditions of a patient. It also includes healthcare and payment records, as well as invoices for healthcare provided to an individual, when such information identifies or can reasonably identify the individual.

Jotform’s WordPress plug-in can help support HIPAA compliance, in addition to Jotform’s HIPAA environment. By signing up Jotform’s HIPAA environment, either under the Gold or Enterprise plan, Jotform offers you access to healthcare templates, integrations, and plug-ins that help support your HIPAA compliance efforts. We provide security measures to help support HIPAA compliance and protect patient data.