Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) Practice Test 2026 - Free CHC Practice Questions and Study Resources

The Privacy Rule established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) specifically protects "individually identifiable health information." This type of information refers to any data that relates to an individual's physical or mental health, healthcare services provided to them, or payment for those services, and that can be used to identify the individual. The intent of the Privacy Rule is to ensure that personal health information is kept confidential and secure.

While employment records and public health data can contain sensitive information, they do not fall under the protection of the Privacy Rule to the same extent as individually identifiable health information. Employment records are typically covered under different privacy regulations, and public health data often involves aggregated statistics that do not identify individuals. Health insurance application details may contain personal health information, but those specifics must be connected to healthcare providers or plans to be fully protected under HIPAA. Thus, the scope of protection under HIPAA's Privacy Rule is most accurately described by the term "individually identifiable health information."