Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing HIPAA Privacy and HIPAA Security Rules.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for individually identifiable health information held by covered entities and their business associates, and gives you (the patient) an array of rights with respect to that information. At the same time, the Privacy Rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of health information needed for your care and other important purposes. Learn more about
HIPAA.
View and download the
MHS NoPP (available in several languages).
To file a HIPAA complaint or report a privacy violation, visit our
HIPAA Privacy office in the Patient Administration Division,
visit HIPAA or complete the
DHA HIPAA Complaint Template and send it to the
MEDDAC HIPAA Group Mailbox
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule
The
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Final Rule protects minors’ privacy concerning their health care choices and treatment. To protect your child’s health records, this rule limits your access to your child’s
protected health information (PHI).
According to the Parental Access to Protected Health Information of Unemancipated Minors Memorandum, access to electronic health records (EHRs) is as follows:
- Minors ages 12 and under: Parents and legal sponsors can access EHRs and all online PHI.
- Minors ages 13-17: Parents and legal sponsors have access to their children’s online patient portal to view appointments, messaging, immunizations, and allergy care only.
You can also access paper health records under certain circumstances:
- Minors ages 17 and under: Parents and legal sponsors may still get health records for their children. To get paper records, you must go through the hospital or clinic’s medical records department.
You can only get both paper and electronic records when your child:
- Didn’t give their own consent for the visit, or
- Consented to the care and gave their permission in writing to allow you access to their PHI for that visit only.
Informed consent is when a patient is competent to make a voluntary decision about whether to undergo a procedure of intervention. Minors can give informed consent for certain types of care. This includes mental health, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted disease care. In these cases, state and federal HIPAA laws protect their privacy. Each of the 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have their own rules for when a minor can consent to the care they get. The DHA observes those state-by-state rules under all circumstances.