HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became federal law in 1996. The act may involve items related to privacy and security of both protected health information (PHI) and electronic protected health information (EPHI) that may be in use in university systems. Standards that UT Dallas follows regarding HIPAA include:

• Administrative safeguards: Policies and procedures designed to clearly show how the University will comply with HIPAA.
• Physical safeguards: Controlling physical access to systems and resources to protect against inappropriate access to protected data.
• Technical safeguards: Controlling access to computer systems and enabling covered entities to protect communications containing PHI transmitted electronically over open networks from being intercepted by anyone other than the intended recipient.

For more information, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HIPAA page.