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Office for Civil Rights - HIPAA

Medical Privacy - National Standards to Protect the Privacy of Personal Health Information

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NEW! Guidance on Communications with Family, Friends, or Others Involved in a Patient's Care - September 16, 2008

OCR Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule - April 11, 2003

Note: The document is available in PDF or Rich Text Format (RTF).

This is a summary of key elements of the Privacy Rule including who is covered, what information is protected and uses and disclosures of protected health information. Because it is an overview of the Privacy Rule, it does not address every detail of each provision, but does contain links to the detailed guidance documents described below.

Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule - (PDF - 208KB) (RTF - 705KB)

OCR Guidance Explaining Significant Aspects of the Privacy Rule - December 4, 2002

Note: The document is available in PDF, WordPerfect (WP) or Rich Text Format (RTF). Please note that some users may encounter difficulties downloading the documents in WordPerfect.

Complete guidance document (PDF - 165KB) (WP - 233KB) (RTF - 300KB)

Individual Sections:

We have included citations throughout this Guidance to permit easy reference to the Privacy Rule. Click here for quick access to a version of the Privacy Rule which incorporates the final modifications published August 14, 2002.

Last revised: September 16, 2008

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