HIPAA Privacy Rule

A rule developed pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Administrative Simplification Provisions that establishes national standards to protect patient and health plan member individually identifiable health information (defined as protected health information (PHI) in the Privacy Rule). This rule gives patients and health plan members increased access to their medical records. Also, the Privacy Rule defines when PHI can be exchanged without individual consent or authorization, requirements for use in research, marketing requirements, etc.