What should all IT specialists know about HIPAA?

Tag Your It! Anyone working in the Healthcare Community has to Annually Review it and Sign that they have be it Doctors, Nurses, IT or even Me that Does Security for the Healthcare Insurance Professionals.

The most basic of all....don't lose or leave your work laptop (chock full of patient privacy info) in your unlocked car, so that it can be easily stolen as the VA has had happen in the last few years.

It depends on what industry or government capacity that you work in. If you work in any job that has to do with healthcare, including insurance, you are probably required to be trained about HIPAA. If you don't I can't see why you would need to know about it. Basically it is designed to protect people's private health information and forbids sharing information with anyone without the permission of the patient or policyholder. I have worked as security at several hospitals and a couple of insurance companies and everyone working there is required to be trained on HIPAA and take an annual refresher.