The HIPAA acronym gets tossed a lot, and perhaps more casually than we'd expect for a policy that protects our medical privacy. Not everyone understands it, and that's not much of a surprise. The full name "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" is clunky enough to make us stop reading. And shortening it to HIPAA doesn't make it much more attractive. But especially as more health information moves to digital platforms, it's increasingly important to understand the protections that HIPAA offers. Thankfully, the World Privacy Forum made it easy for us with their newly-posted "Patient's Guide to HIPAA."

Their guide is the solution to the problem of our eyes glazing over when we see long, convoluted paragraphs about our health and privacy. It's not written for doctors or lawyers, and it's not full of political phrases. It's simple and easy to read. It's for people like us, patients and their families. I won't go so far as to call it entertaining, but it's friendly. Just when the writers might get to a potentially confusing point, they include a helpful "sidebar" to clear things up. It's web-friendly in it's FAQ style, and just like the sidebars, the "rules of thumb" make for simple scanning for the information you need.

You know how important your health is, and of course you value your privacy. Now you can take more control of your medical care by getting a quick, easy understanding of how HIPAA can help.