Health Information Portability and Accountability Act

Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is federal legislation enforcing the portability of health care coverage, the security and privacy of health information, and an accounting of how individual health care formation is handled and protected.

The law was created to give individuals more control and access to their medical information, protect individually identifiable medical information (protected health information) from threats of loss or disclosure, and simplify the administration of health insurance claims and lower costs.

Regulations supporting HIPAA punish individuals or organizations that fail to keep patient information confidential and include monetary fines of up to $1.5 million.

The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) operates under these principles:

• Confidentiality — Protected Health Information (PHI) is accessed only by authorized people and processes.
• Integrity — Processes for the transfer and storage of all PHI are secure, ensuring that information is not altered, destroyed or used/disclosed inappropriately.
• Availability — PHI can be accessed as needed by an authorized person.

CYFD is required by law to keep your health information private and to tell you our legal duties and privacy practices. Our Privacy Office NMAC explains our notice of privacy practices, rights to PHI, what kinds of information we collect, what we do with the information, who else can see your information, what your rights are, and more.

Authorization to Disclose Health Information

Your Right to Request an Accounting of Disclosures of Your Protected Health Information:

• You have a right to request an accounting of disclosures of your protected health information made by CYFD.
• As the Personal Representative of an individual, you have a right to request an accounting of disclosures of their protected health information made by CYFD.
• You have a right to have an answer to your request within 60 days. If there are delays in responding to your request, you will be notified in writing and given a revised date for providing the information.
• You may be charged a fee if you previously requested an accounting within the last 12 months.

Please fill out, sign and send the form for Accounting of Disclosure of PHI.