American citizens are becoming increasingly concerned with the privacy of their health and other personal information that is used, transferred, and retained by a multitude of different businesses.  As a result, we have seen the enactment of federal and state laws, such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA")[1], Gramm-Leach-Bliley[2], the Fair Credit Reporting Act[3], and various laws which are all designed to regulate and protect this non-public personal information.  In addition, federal and state government agencies that administer these laws have issued regulations concerning these privacy protections.  COMPLIANCE with these laws is NOT AN OPTION for independent agencies and brokers.  Failure to Comply can result in Significant Penalties and Liability which may not be covered by insurance.

The purpose of this ACT report is to heighten agencies' awareness about the importance of taking steps within their businesses to safeguard the privacy of non-public personal information about their clients and prospective clients, whether it be the individually identifiable medical information that is governed by HIPAA or other non-public personal information that is impacted by other federal and state laws. 

For the full report in PDF copy: GLB - Compliance not an option - 2004Oct05.pdf