[April 14, 2003]

The Privacy Rule for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) becomes effective today. Over the past several months, the University and its carriers have been working to put policies and procedures in place to make operations for the University, its health plan administrators, business associates, and medical providers compliant with HIPAA.

As part of the University’s responsibility for its self-funded plans, on April 10, a copy of the University’s official Notice under HIPAA was sent to current enrolles of Core California, Core New Mexico, BluePremier HMO, BluePremier POS, High Option/Supplement to Medicare, and the Health Care Reimbursement Account. For the other UC-sponsored plans, the plan carriers were responsible for mailing a similar notice to their UC enrollees before the April 14 effective date.

The University has launched a new HIPAA website to provide employees, retirees, and other visitors with information about HIPAA and UC’s compliance with the new privacy rule.

If you have questions about HIPAA related to UC-sponsored plans, write to the HIPAA Privacy Officer at 300 Lakeside Dr., 5th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612.

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