Medical practices, health plans, Health Care Clearinghouses, Business Associates and other health care providers are required by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to utilize new rules sets after October 15, 2003. With effect from April 2005, HIPAA requires that security measures to be implemented for physical security and electronically secure transfer of protected health information (PHI) from unauthorized access, retrieval, storage of the electronic data. However there is no such thing as “HIPAA compliant" software. The responsibility to be compliant rests with the medical practice. Two main areas of a medical practice affected by HIPAA are the practice’s billing software and practice management software.