Information Security Management Handbook, Volume 6, 6th Edition

Chapter 1

What Business Associates Need to Know about Protected Health Information under HIPAA and HITECH

Rebecca Herold

Introduction

Before launching into a discussion of protected health information (PHI) as defined under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it is first important to have a basic understanding of HIPAA, and also why HIPAA even exists. This chapter first provides a high-level description of HIPAA and the subsequent Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) to provide ...