'Here's the huge misunderstanding: What HIPAA does not do is stand in the way of anybody answering the question, 'Have you been vaccinated?'' 'The bottom line is that HIPAA is meant to provide some control for the consumer, for the patient, over how his or her information flows,' he added. Gregg Bloch, a professor of health law, policy and ethics at Georgetown Law. 'HIPAA's protection is incomplete,' said Dr. Neither individual citizens nor most employers are considered ' covered entities' under HIPAA, according to HHS. In other words, the law primarily applies to health insurance companies and health care providers.

MORE: States with surging COVID-19 rates also tend to have higher rates of uninsured 'It's a rule that prevents hospitals, health insurance companies, pharmacies, and health care companies from sharing certain protected health information (PHI) you provide them with anyone else without your permission.' 'HIPAA is the tool the government uses to try and protect some of your personal health care information,' explained Juan Morado, a health care regulatory and policy attorney at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP. In the age of COVID and questions about the disease and vaccines in the workplace, schools and elsewhere, debate over and misinformation about the law, which 'gives you rights over your health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive your health information,' according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has taken on a whole new life. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a 1996 federal law, is a widely cited and misunderstood privacy statutes. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks at a press conference related to the January 6 invasion of the U.S.

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