Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), an insurance company, insurance service, or insurance organization that is licensed in the state to do business involving insurance and is subject to the state’s laws regulating insurance. This phrase does not include a group health insurance plan.

Groups of businesses that join together to lobby for better insurance policies or lower premiums from insurance companies.

Allows an individual to keep an employer-group medical insurance plan when changing jobs. See Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) .

Federal law designed to limit exclusions for preexisting conditions, prohibit discrimination against employees and dependents based on their health status, guarantee that health insurance is available to small employers, and guarantee renewability of insurance to all employers regardless of size. However, people must go through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act program before using HIPAA. HIPAA allows portability in that it provides continuing insurance coverage when a person changes employment. It also simplifies administrative aspects of electronic health care transactions; mandates standard transaction code sets used by providers, plans, payers, and employers; and orders security, privacy, and confidentiality of patients’ health information via electronic transmission. HIPAA requires use of national identification systems for health care patients, providers, payers or plans, and employers. This act is also known as K2, Kennedy-Kasselbaum Bill, Kennedy-Kassenbaum Bill , and Public law 104-191 .

Code system for procedures that is used when billing Medicare patients in skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and swing bed facilities in rural hospitals. HIPPS codes are alphanumerical codes of five digits: The first three are derived from the resource utilization group (RUG), and the last two represent a modifier code for the specific assessment. This code is put in Form Locator 44 on the UB-04 Medicare claim form. Any patient coded in one of the top 26 RUGs is a skilled patient.