White Paper: BlackBerry® And The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act (HIPAA)

By Michael A. Eck, Joanne L. Hustead The Segal Company

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 led to promulgation of a broad and comprehensive set of regulations requiring healthcare organizations to address privacy and security concerns related to healthcare data. These rules extended beyond traditional paper-based information to include data stored and transmitted electronically.

The Privacy Rule limits how Protected Health Information (PHI) may be used and disclosed for all forms of PHI (oral, written or electronic) whereas the Security Rule focuses exclusively on protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic PHI (ePHI). This white paper primarily focuses on the HIPAA Security Rule. Covered entities must comply with both the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.