HIPAA - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

1. What is the purpose of the HIPAA Privacy Regulations?

The purpose of the Privacy Regulations is to set minimum national standards regarding the confidentiality of individuals' protected health information. "Protected health information" is any individually identifiable health information, including billing and demographic information, that is transmitted or maintained in any form or medium.

Generally, health information is considered "identifiable" if it contains any of the following elements: (1) names; (2) geographic subdivision (e.g., street address, city, county and zip code); (3) names of relatives; (4) name of employer; (5) birthdate; (6) date of treatments; (7) telephone numbers; (8) fax numbers; (9) e-mail address; (10) SSN; (11) medical record number; (12) health plan beneficiary number; (13) account number; (14) license number; (15) vehicle identifiers, serial numbers, license plate numbers; (16) device identifiers and serial numbers; (17) URLs; (18) Internet Protocol address numbers; (19) biometric identifiers, including finger or voice prints; (20) full face photographic images and other comparable images; and (21) any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code.