BACKGROUND

Created, operated, and managed by the Healthcare Leadership Council, the Confidentiality Coalition was originally formed in response to the enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, which established national standards for protecting individuals’ health information. These federal privacy standards apply to healthcare entities, including health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, providers such as doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists, as well as business associates that support these entities to safeguard the use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI), across paper and electronic formats.

To implement HIPAA and subsequent legislative amendments, the Department of Health and Human Services issued, updated and has the authority to continue to modify the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”), the Security and Electronic Signature Standards (“Security Rule”) and the Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information (“Breach Notification Rule).

While the landscape of healthcare privacy continues to evolve with technological advances, the Confidentiality Coalition  is focused on supporting and advancing policies that protect the confidentiality of personal health information while advancing innovation. Our work spans key areas such as:

• Cybersecurity – Ensuring strong protections against cyber threats to safeguard health data.
• Data Privacy – Advocating for policies that protect patient information while enabling responsible data use.
• Artificial Intelligence – Addressing the ethical and privacy implications of AI in healthcare.
• Interoperability – Promoting secure and seamless health data exchange to improve patient care.

The Confidentiality Coalition remains committed to striking a balance between patient privacy, data security, and the responsible use of health information to improve healthcare outcomes.