The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) establishes, a set of national standards for the protection of certain health information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued the Privacy Rule to implement the requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information—called “protected health information” by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule — called “covered entities,” as well as standards for individuals' privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used.
Protected Health Information. The Privacy Rule protects all "individually identifiable health information" held or transmitted by a covered entity or its business associate, in any form or media, whether electronic, paper, or oral. The Privacy Rule calls this information "protected health information (PHI).”
“Individually identifiable health information” is information, including demographic data, that relates to:
- the individual’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition,
- the provision of health care to the individual, or
- the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual.
Individually identifiable health information includes many common identifiers (e.g., name, address, birth date, Social Security Number).
PHI collected by SHIELD Illinois and affiliated vendors is stored in accordance with HIPAA security rule requirements. Point and Click Solutions, Inc., the electronic health record vendor engaged by SHIELD Illinois for the purposes of collection, storage, and management of PHI is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant for trust services criteria for security, availability, and confidentiality and undergoes annual SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance audits by an independent third party.