HIPAA is shorthand for a federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. That law covers a wide range of topics related to health care and privacy and security are mentioned only in a few sections. In 1996 Congress was most concerned about enabling people to keep their health insurance when they changed jobs, address related health insurance issues, prevent health care fraud and abuse and take advantage of the newly developed Internet by establishing standard electronic formats for the exchange of health information. It was a bi-partisan effort originally called the “Kennedy Kassebaum Act’ because its lead sponsors were Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas. Privacy and security of individually identifiable health information was a last minute addition prompted by Republican Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri.