Who enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?

Question: Who enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?

Answer
The Office of E-Health Standards and Services within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enforces the Transactions and Code Sets and National Identifiers (Employer and Provider identifiers) regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Complaints may be submitted electronically, at https://htct.hhs.gov/aset/, or via paper at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Enforcement/Downloads/HIPAANon-PrivacyComplaintForm.pdf

The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules are enforced by the Office for Civil Rights OCR. Complaints related to concerns about protected health information may be sent to OCR at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html. CMS also enforces the insurance portability requirements under Title I of HIPAA. For more information about portability and how to obtain information or assistance, go to: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthInsReformforConsume/01_Overview.asp